Tag: God

What Is Christmas All About?

On By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn Advent and Christmas2 Comments

meaning_of_christmas

If Christmas is all about the exchanging of gifts…Then it will mean a lot of shopping which will lead to a lot of stress, debt and depression.

If Christmas is all about children…Then it will be especially painful for those who have lost children, for those who have never been able to have children, and for those whose children are estranged. Christmas will mean lost dreams which will lead to anguish, regret and depression.

If Christmas is all about family… Then it will be especially painful for those of us, including me, who have lost loved ones this past year.  Christmas will mean empty chairs at the table which will lead to grief, sorrow and depression.

No wonder Christmas is the most depressing time of the year for so many people.  No wonder suicide rates are at their highest this time of the year.

However, if Christmas is all about the Holy gift of God’s self to us through a little baby named Jesus, then Christmas will mean hope.  If Christmas is all about Emmanuel, God with us, then Christmas will mean peace.  If Christmas is all about God who came to earth to heal and forgive, then Christmas will mean love.  If Christmas is all about God, who through Jesus the Christ came to earth and died and who was resurrected, then Christmas will mean joy which will lead to abundant and eternal life.

I want to encourage all of you to avoid depression by making the worship of the God of our Lord Jesus Christ a priority this Christmas season so we can receive true life, and together, share it with others.

Christmas for the Average Joe

On By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn Advent and Christmas, Sermons Year ALeave a comment

st-joseph-infant-jesus-344x400Matthew 1:18-25 NRSV

This past week, I went to the post office to purchase some Christmas stamps for our Christmas cards.  And this year, like every year, I am asked the same question from the postal clerk that goes something like this:  “Do you want the gingerbread house, or do you want the religious stamps?”  Last year, it was either “the snowman or the religious stamps?”

Of course I want the religious stamps! It’s Christmas, and I’m a preacher, and I’m supposed to be religious!

“What kind of religious stamps to you have?” I asked.

And every year it’s always the same. In the Christmas religious category, you always have the same number of choices—one.  Said the clerk: “It’s the Madonna and child, you know, the portrait of the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus.”

Have you ever wondered why there are no stamps of Joseph holding the baby Jesus?  In all of your born days, have you ever seen such a stamp?  Have you ever even heard of such a stamp?

Now, I understand that way back then, in a male dominated society, men probably didn’t do a lot of baby holding.  That was the woman’s job.  But why hasn’t there ever been a postage stamp of Jesus and Joseph hard at work in Joseph’s workshop building something together?  Why can’t we find a postage stamp of Jesus and his carpenter father building a new pew or a pulpit for the local synagogue?

And along the same lines, how many Christmas carols or a Christmas hymns have you ever heard that are about Joseph?  If you look through any traditional hymn book, you’ll find, “Gentle Mary Laid Her Child Lowly in a Manger;” “That Boy-Child of Mary.” “What Child is this, Who, Laid to Rest on Mary’s Lap;” “Child in the Manger, Infant of Mary.”  Then of course there’s “Silent night, Holy Night, All Is Calm All is Bright Round Yon Virgin Mother and Child!”  Why isn’t it “round yon father, mother and child?” Why is it never “Child in the Manger, Infant of Mary and Joseph?”  The truth is: you’ve got to look high and low, do a lot of googling, to even find one mention of Joseph’s name in any Christmas carol or Christian hymn!

Now, I realize that Joseph is not the biological father of Jesus.  Yet, without him there would be no nativity.  Have you ever seen a nativity scene without Joseph?  Even the very small ones, the ones without all of the animals and the shepherds and wise men, have Mary, the baby Jesus and Joseph!

His role in the Christmas story is so important that he, like Mary is also visited by an angel. He is told that his wife, Mary, is going to have a baby, but he is not the father. However, he must accept the baby as his own.  And then, although he is asked to claim the child, raise the child, and provide for the child, Joseph will not even have the privilege of naming him, as he is told by the angel call him “Jesus.”

He must shoulder the demands of fatherhood. He must support Mary in her awkward situation before the child is delivered. And then, when the child is delivered, he must be born in a barn! Then, soon after, he must be protected from the horrors of King Herod. He must save the child’s life by fleeing to Egypt until it is safe to come back home. But still, Joseph has no postage stamp, no hymn, no carol.

They belong to Mary. Maybe it is because the church has traditionally called Mary “the first disciple.”  And well we should, for she was the first one to be visited by an angel, the first one to hear the call of God on her life, and she is the first one to faithfully say: “yes!”  When the angel told her that she was going to have a baby, she replied with obedient, grateful confidence with the beautiful words: “Let it be to me according to your will.”

Amen, Sister Mary! That will preach!

But what is there about our brother Joseph that will preach? Yes, he does go through extraordinary lengths to care for and protect the baby Jesus. But, really, who wouldn’t? When it comes to innocent babies, no matter who they are, most of us have a soft spot.

So what is it about Joseph that preaches, that speaks to us, that reveals something about who God is, how God acts, and who God is calling us to be?

Mary was the first to receive the good news, the first to be called by God to participate in the movement of God, and Mary was the first to say “yes,” but Joseph is the second to the get the news:  The good news, the gospel, the word that God was pouring God’s self out, emptying God’s self and becoming flesh to save all people through a child to be named Jesus. Joseph is the second to be called by God, which kind of makes Joseph the second disciple. And, Joseph was the second to say “yes!” Maybe that is what preaches about Joseph!

Well, actually, typical of Joseph, he did not say anything, at least nothing that we know of.  In all of our encounters with Joseph in the gospel of Matthew, we do not hear him utter one word.  Did you know that?  Maybe that is the reason the postmaster told me that yet again this year, that if I did not want the Gingerbread House, and wanted something in the religious department, I only had one choice.

But you know something?  Most of us are a lot like Joseph, aren’t we?  No one is going to find a postage stamp with any of our faces on it either. Most of us are a lot like Joseph in that all the news we have about Jesus is really second-hand news. We were not the first to get it.  Mary’s first-hand news was dramatic, causing her to become involved in the movements of God in the world in the most profound of ways, literally with her body and soul.

It’s just not quite the same with Joseph, and it is not quite the same with us.

And, like Joseph, most of us are not big talkers. We are ordinary, quiet folks. When Mary was visited by the angel, she burst into song, singing one of the most beloved songs in all of scripture and the church: her lovely and powerful Magnificat. But Joseph, he never sang. And as far as we know, he never even said anything.  He was a simple man, a quiet man, a rather ordinary man, an average Joe.

Now, I’m a big talker, but you have to pay me to do it! Most of you would be very uncomfortable up here doing what I do in this pulpit this morning. You have faith, but you don’t like to make a big show of it. You believe in Christ wholeheartedly, and you have committed yourselves to follow Christ faithfully, but you don’t have a lot to say about it. You are a faithful disciple, but you are a quiet disciple.

You go about serving your Lord every day, faithfully answering his call, courageously following Christ wherever he leads, albeit quietly.

And like Joseph, sometimes the call of God leads you to do things that you do not want to do. Sometimes it calls you to go to places that you do not want to go. Sometimes it calls you to accept and love people that you would rather not accept and love.

And every ordinary Joe who strives to live as a disciple for the sake of others sacrifices and suffers.  And you do it because something or someone who is greater than yourself is constantly persuading you, encouraging you, leading you. And you follow. You persevere faithfully and courageously, albeit quietly and ordinarily.

You are just an average Joe, minding your own mundane, everyday business, when suddenly your life is caught up in the extraordinary purposes of God. You wake up one day realizing that you need to serve God more by serving others more selflessly—forgive those who have wronged you, care more earnestly, love more deeply, follow Christ more closely.

You wake up with a desire to bake cookies and deliver them to the oncology floor at the hospital on Christmas Day. You awake and feel led to make a donation to the food pantry, serve a meal in the soup kitchen, drive someone to a doctor’s appointment, and purchase a coat or a toy for a child.

And you don’t talk about it. You just very faithfully and quietly act.

The Bible is full of stories of average Joes minding his or her own business, and then, out of nowhere, comes a call. And usually the person being called is speechless.

Do you remember the call of Abraham?  When God called Abraham in the middle of the night, he was too dumbfounded to speak!  Do you remember the call of his wife Sarah?  When she was called, she could not talk either. All she could do was laugh!

When Moses was called, he spoke, but all he said was that he was not a very good speaker. We learn throughout the Bible, that this is simply the way God works. God specializes in calling ordinary people, average Joes, to become caught up in the unexpected and extraordinary movements of God in our world.

Therefore, we remember Joseph on this Sunday before Christmas.  And although we will not sing one carol this day about him, we thank God for him nonetheless. Because in Joseph we can see ourselves:  ordinary, average Joes.

Like him, we mind our own business. But then, into our ordinary lives, God intrudes. God comes to us, and God comes upon us. God calls us.  And even if we are not good with words, even we couldn’t burst into a hymn if we had to, even though we will never be on a postage stamp, if we will at least whisper, “yes,” then like Joseph, we will be faithful disciples, a people willing to follow the movements of God in Jesus Christ wherever it takes us.

And the good news is: that will preach!

PS: I found this poem after I wrote and delivered the sermon:

The hardest task
The most difficult role of all
That of just being there
And Joseph, dearest Joseph, stands for that.
Don’t you see? 

It is important,
crucially important,
that he stand there by that manger,
as he does,
In all his silent misery
Of doubt concern and fear.
If Joseph were not there
There might be no place for us,

…
Let us be there,
Simply be there just as Joseph was,
With nothing we can do now,
Nothing we can bring-
It’s far too late for that-
Nothing even to be said
Except, ‘Behold- be blessed,
Be silent, be at peace.

…
The hardest task
The most difficult role of all
That of just being there
And Joseph, dearest Joseph, stands for that.
Don’t you see?[1]

[1] Shepherd, J. Barrie. Faces at the Manger. Nashville: Upper Room Books, 1992.

Because of Christmas Day!

On By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn Advent and Christmas, Short ArticlesLeave a comment

 

John 1:1-14

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

This past week, a lot of people have asked me: “Are you having church on Christmas day?”

My response was that Christmas Day should be so important to the life of the Christian, we should be in church every year on this holy day, and not just when it happens to fall on Sunday once every seven years!

The reason we lead worship which begins with Advent and ends with Christ the King Sunday, is because we believe the life of the Christian should be governed, directed and guided by the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Our lives as Christians begin and end on this earth with this birth that we celebrate on Christmas Day.

The words of one of my favorite Christmas carols go like this: “Long time ago in Bethlehem, so the Holy Bible say, Mary ‘s boy child Jesus Christ was born on Christmas Day. Hark, now hear the angels sing, a king was born today. And we will live forevermore, because of Christmas Day.”  Because of Christmas Day.

The good, glorious news of this holy morning is that we know who our God is, how our God acts and what our God desires; we know who we are, how we should act and what we should desire, because of Christmas day.

Left to our own devises, we could not get close to God, so on Christmas Day God came close to us. Our God who was thought to be distant became as close as God could possibly be to us—becoming one of us—becoming flesh to dwell among us, giving us the best gift that God had to give, the gift of God’s self. Thus, as Christians we know how to live.  And we know how to die. Because of Christmas Day.

Just think about it! When we lose a loved one to death or encounter evil in this world, we grieve, but how can we grieve with hope and assurance? How do we grieve with a peace that is truly beyond understanding? How do we know that God is always a giver and never a taker?  Because of Christmas Day!

Because on this day, God proved to the world how far God is willing to go to give us life! God loves us so much that God emptied God’s self, poured God’s self out to us and for us through a vulnerable little baby born in a stable who grew into a man show us the way to life, abundant and eternal. And although we rejected not only this way, but also him; although spat upon him, tortured him and killed him by nailing him to a tree, God brought him back to life for the very ones who crucified him—revealing in a real and powerful way that God will never give up on us. God will never forsake us. God will always be there for us, forgiving us, loving us, transforming our despair into hope and our deaths into life.

One day, someone asked me why I don’t preach more about the judgment of God, the wrath of God, and preach less about the love and the grace of God. How can I preach with confidence that God is never using the pain of this world to punish us for our sins, but God is always here with us loving us and forgiving us and doing whatever God can do to work all things together for the good? Because of Christmas Day!

Because God came into the world in Jesus to heal the sick, give sight to the blind, eat and drink with sinners, forgive the adulterer, and promise a thief paradise.

Why is our invitation to communion wide-open to all people every Sunday morning? Why are we compelled to love others and share with others so freely and so unconditionally?

To others—to those others who do not deserve our love and have not and will not earn our love—to those others who may reject our love and even abuse our love. Why do we keep on sharing with and keep on loving those who may never share with us and love us?  Because of Christmas Day.

Because God was born to an underserving woman named Mary, was worshipped first by undeserving shepherds, called undeserving fishermen to be his disciples and died for undeserving people like me and you.  Because we have received grace, we are compelled to extend grace.  Because we have been forgiven, we are compelled to forgive. Because of Christmas Day.

“Long time ago in Bethlehem, so the Holy Bible say, Mary ‘s boy child Jesus Christ was born on Christmas Day. Hark, now hear the angels sing, a king was born today. And we will live forevermore, because of Christmas Day.”

Because of Christmas Day.

Whom God Favors

On By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn Advent and Christmas, Short ArticlesLeave a comment

dirtyshepherds

The very first ones on earth to hear the pronouncement of Christmas were shepherds.  Who were these shepherds?   It is accurate to say that they were folks that the popular religious people knew would never “inherit the kingdom of God.”

This is not easy for most of us to hear.  For most of us have a tendency to romanticize the shepherds.  After all, we have been raised in the church with our innocent children depicting shepherds wearing bathrobes in adorable Christmas plays.  And for most of us church folk, shepherding evokes a very positive and pastoral image.  We think about the Old Testament images of the shepherd king David.  We think about the beautiful green pastures and still waters and the protection of the rod and staff of the twenty-third Psalm.  And, of course, we think about Jesus Himself as being the “good shepherd.”

However,  the reality is that shepherding was a most despised occupation.  Mercer New Testament Professor Alan Culpepper writes:  “In the first century, shepherds were scorned as shiftless, dishonest people who grazed their flocks on others’ lands.”  Therefore, it would not be too great of a stretch to give shepherds the current degrading designation: “illegal aliens.”

And why were these people involved in such a despised occupation?  The theology of the day would say, “because of sin, of course.”  They were who they were because of either their own sin or the sins of their parents.  In the eyes of popular religion, the shepherds were poor, immoral sinners.

Fred Craddock writes that the shepherds belong to the Christmas story “not only because they serve to tie Jesus to the shepherd king, David (2 Sam 14:23, 21) but because they belong on Luke’s guest list for the kingdom of God: the poor, the maimed, the blind, the lame (Luke 14:13, 21).

The very first people in history to receive the birth announcement of the messiah, the very first ones on earth to celebrate Christmas are sinners; they are the despised, the lowly, the immoral and the outcast.

This is why the angels pronounce the good news of Christmas is great joy for ALL the people.  Culpepper writes:  “The familiarity of these words should not prevent us from hearing that, first and foremost, the birth of Jesus was a sign of God’s abundant grace.”  The birth is a sign that God is on the side of ALL people—even the most despised, the most lowly, the most immoral, the most outcast, the most alien, and the most illegal .  Jesus came even for those who find themselves standing on the outside of the community or church.

And in what form does this sign appear?   The savior was coming into the world through a poor peasant woman to lay in a manger, a feeding trough made for animals.  And it is this humble scene that sets the stage for his entire life on earth.  Jesus, the savior of the world was born and lived and even died on the fringes, on the margins of society—underscoring the truth that the good news has come into the world for ALL—maybe especially to the marginalized.

Page Kelly, my Old Testament professor at Southern Seminary, used to love to say that the biblical symbol for God’s justice on this earth was not a blind woman holding a set of scales.  “It was one of the Old Testament prophets holding a set of scales with his eyes bugged out and his long bony finger mashing down on the side of the poor.”  –Favoring those who have always been despised and marginalized by society.

Sounds a little like the Angels’ song:  “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors.”

“But God does not have favorites!” we say.  Arguing that God’s grace is all-inclusive, some ancient manuscripts even omit, “among those whom he favors.”   Fred Craddock says that interpreting this passage all depends on where you put the comma.  The original Greek was without punctuation.  Thus, one could read:  And on earth peace among those (comma), all those who inhabit the earth, whom God favors—making it the song all-inclusive.

But then we have the Song of Mary.  In the Magnificat, Mary sings, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.”  And this favoritism does not appear to be all-inclusive for “he has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly.  He has filled the hungry with good things, and set the rich away empty” (Luke 1:46-48, 52-53).

So, maybe just maybe, those folks, who for whatever reason, cause people to judge as unworthy of “inheriting the Kingdom of God,” are not the ones who have the problem.

Now, here’s the good news.   And it just so happens that I heard it while visiting an Alzheimer’s patient in the nursing home who does not remember who I am.  There are some days when she does not know who her husband is, but amazingly, she has never forgotten who her Lord and Savior is.  As soon as I entered her room, she read me the front of Christmas card that she was holding in her hand.  “Jesus—in the incarnation, God showed us mercy.”

The good news is that when we realize that we stand in desperate need of God’s mercy, when we realize that apart from the grace of Christ, we are all outsiders, we are all poor, alien, sinful, immoral, when we realize that the shepherds are our brothers, then the joy and peace that is Christmas, that is salvation, is ours.

Wake Forest theologian Frank Tupper commented on Luke’s story of the Good Samaritan stating, “We are all half-dead men or women lying in a ditch somewhere east of Eden—beaten so badly by the sin and evil of this world that no one can tell if we are rich or poor, slave or free, male or female.”

And the news even gets better.  When we realize that we are sisters and brothers to the shepherds, the outsiders, the lowly and despised, the poor and the weak, when we reach out and offer them our bread, our drink, our clothing, our presence, our touch, our love, when we reach out and take in, then the Song of the Angels still fill the skies singing with the comma in just the right place—“Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth, among all who inhabit it, whom God favors.”

Joy to the World!

On By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn Advent and Christmas, Short Articles1 Comment

Joy-of-Christmas

The angel told the shepherds, “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born in the city of David a Savior who is the Messiah, the Lord.”

Yet, we oftentimes have a problem with joy.  Happiness is what we really desire.  Ever since Thomas Jefferson paraphrased John Locke in the Declaration of Independence that the rights of every person are “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” we Americans have made happiness our foremost goal in life.  We want to be happy, and we want to be happy now!

I believe this is why television evangelists who preach health, wealth and happiness are so popular in our culture.  I also believe this is why depression is so prevalent, especially during the holidays.

I once heard someone say that happiness is like a shallow stream of water in the winter and spring.  It rapidly trickles along, singing very loudly as it flows downstream.  However, in the summer, the stream dries up leaving a cracked, parched ground.

Joy, on the other hand, is like a very deep river.  Unlike the loud singing of the stream, because of its depth, joy is quiet, almost motionless as it moves downriver oftentimes unnoticed.  Joy never dries up, even in the driest months of the year.

The gift of joy runs much deeper than the shallow gift of happiness.  Happiness is on the surface.  Joy, however, runs deep.

True Christmas is the gift of joy.  We are not celebrating the shallowness of God who only scratches the surface of humanity.  We do not celebrate God gazing down from some lofty place to only nod or wink in humanity’s direction.  We celebrate the truth that God came down to be with humanity and to be humanity.  We celebrate the deep, inmost humility of God that called God to empty God’s self and to become involved with humanity even to the point of dying for humanity.

Christmas is anything but shallow.  No wonder the angel said Christmas is good news of “great joy” and not “happiness.”

World-Affirming Christmas

On By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn Advent and Christmas, Short ArticlesLeave a comment

star-of-bethlehemExcerpt from  Heaven Can Wait

British scholar Lesslie Newbigin once looked at our dark world and the state of the Church and made the following assessment: “In an age of impending ecological crises,” with the “threat of nuclear war and a biological holocaust” many Christians have retreated into a “privatized eschatology.”  That means, that the only hope many Christians possess is “their vision of personal blessedness for the soul after death.”

Christians everywhere, in the words of Newbigin, have “sounded the trumpet of retreat.” They have thrown their hands in the air and have given up on the world. Their faith in Jesus has become solely and merely a private matter. Faith is only something they possess, something they hold on to, that they can someday use as their ticket out this God-forsaken place. In the meantime, they withdraw into safe sanctuaries and look forward to that day “the roll is called up yonder.”  And they listen to angry sermons by angry preachers condemning the world to Hell in a hand basket.

Giving up on the world is really nothing new.  At the turn of the first century, Jews called Gnostics had a similar view of the world.  Everything worldly, even the human body itself, was regarded as evil.  And maybe, they too, had some pretty good reasons to believe that way, because regardless of what some may believe, the world did not start growing dark when Kennedy was assassinated or when the Trade Center Towers fell. The truth is: This world has been dark ever since that serpent showed up in the garden.

At the turn of the first century, Jews were a conquered, depressed people, occupied the Romans.  They were terrorized daily by a ruthless, pro-Roman King named Herod—a king who would murder innocent children to have his way.  The Gnostics looked at the world and their situation and came to the conclusion that they were divine souls trapped in evil bodies living in a very dark, God-forsaken, God-despised world.

In this season of Advent, we remember that it was into a very dark world that something mysterious happened that we call Christmas. A light shone in that darkness proving in the most incredible and inexplicable way that this world is anything but God-forsaken or God-despised!

God loves this world so much that God emptied God’s self and poured God’s self into the world. God came and affirmed, even our fleshly existence as God, God’s self, became flesh. And God came into the world not to condemn the world, but to save the world. For so God loved the world that God came into the world and died for the world.

Thus, the message that we all need to hear today and hear often is NOT that God believes the world is worth forsaking, but God believes this world is worth saving! God believes the world is still worth fighting for! God still believes that this world is worth dying for!

As the body of Christ in this world, we as the church are not called to retreat or withdraw from the world and its troubles, but are called to love this world, to do battle for this world, to even die for this world.  We are called to be a selfless community of faith in this broken world. And, no matter the cost, we are called to share this good news of Christmas all year long!

Reigning from the Cross

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

world_in_handsLuke 23:33-43 NRSV

Today is the last Sunday of the Christian Year.  It is called “Christ the King Sunday” or “The Reign of Christ Sunday.”  It signifies that at the end of it all, Jesus Christ has the last and final word.  And in this world of so much suffering and pain, oh how we need a day like today!  Oh how we need to be reminded that when it all boils down, when it all pans out, Jesus Christ is our ruler and our king. When it is all said and done, Jesus the Christ is ultimately in charge. Today is the day that we reassure ourselves that no matter how bad life gets, no matter how distressed, fragmented and chaotic life becomes, Christ is always in complete control.  “He’s got the whole world in his hands,” as we all like to sing.

Now, in this world of heart ache and heart break, the truth that Christ is the king and ruler of it all is always supposed to bring us great assurance and peace.  However; although none of us good God-fearing, church-going folks like to admit it, this truth of God’s complete reign over this world usually brings us the exact opposite.

Think about those times you were reminded by someone, albeit with good intentions, that “God is in control.”  When Lori and I lost our first child two months before the due date, people came up to us and said, “Don’t let this get you down.  Just remember that God doesn’t make any mistakes.”

After the doctor gave you the news that the tumor was malignant, people came up to you and said, “Don’t worry, God knows what God is doing.”

When people learned that you were going to lose your job, they reminded you, “It is going to be alright, for God is in control.”

At the graveside of a loved one, your friends and family lined up between you and the casket and whispered: “God has a reason for this.”

And very politely, we nodded. We even thanked them for their words with a hug or a handshake.  But then, a short time later, after we dried our tears, after we came to our senses, while we were sitting quietly at home or while we were out on a long drive, or maybe sitting in church, we began to reflect and to ponder those well-intended words. We began to think to ourselves: “If God is really sitting on some providential throne in complete control of this fragmented fiasco called life, this disastrous debacle called the world, then what type of ruler is this God? What type of king sits back and allows so much evil to occur in their kingdom?

Christ the King—what is supposed to bring us great strength, peace and comfort, instead brings us frustration, anger and doubt.  Christ the King—what is supposed to bring us assurance and hope brings us utter misery and despair.  And we are very much tempted to join all those who laughed and ridiculed Jesus: “Umphh!  King of the Jews! Some King!”

I have said it before, and I do not mind saying it again—If  God is the one who willed our first baby’s death, causes tumors to be malignant, gets us fired from our jobs, and takes our loved ones from us, then I really do not believe I want anything to do with a god like that!  I think I would rather join the millions of people who have chosen not to be in church on this Sunday before Thanksgiving.

The good news is that I am here. And I am here to thank God that God is not the type of King who decrees the death of babies, pronounces malignancies, commands layoffs and orders our loved ones to be suddenly taken from us. There is no doubt about it, Christ is King.  But thank God, Christ does not reign the way the kings of this world reign.

The reason I believe we allow ourselves to be tempted to give up on God in the face of evil is because we often forget that our God reigns not from some heavenly throne in some blissful castle in the sky. Our God reigns from an old rugged cross, on a hill outside of Jerusalem, between sinners like you and me. I believe we oftentimes become despairing and cynical about God, because we forget that our God does not rule like the rulers of this world.

The rulers of this world rule with violence and coercion and force.  Earthly rulers rule with an iron fist: militarily and legislatively and with executive orders. The kings of the world rule with raw power: controlling, dominating, taking, and imposing.

But Christ is a King who rules through suffering, self-giving, self-expending, sacrificial love.  Christ the King rules, not from a distance at the capital city, not from the halls of power and prestige, but in little, insignificant, out-of-the-way places like Bethlehem and Nazareth, and Fountain and Farmville.

Christ the King doesn’t rule with an iron fist, but rules instead with outstretched arms. Christ the King doesn’t cause human suffering from a far, but is right here beside us sharing in our suffering.

God possess what the late theologian Arthur McGill called a “peculiar” kind of power.

God’s power is not a power that takes, but is a power that gives.

God’s power is not a power that rules, but is a power that serves.

God’s power is not a power that imposes, but is a power that loves.

God’s power is not a power that dominates, but a power that dies.

And as Arthur McGill has written, this is the reason that it is “no accident that Jesus undertakes his mission to the poor and to the weak and not to the strong, to the dying and not to those full of life.  For with these vessels of need God most decisively vindicates his peculiar kind of power, [a] power of service whereby the poor are fed, the sinful are forgiven, the weak are strengthened, and the dying are made alive.”[i]

Christ the King did not take our first child.  The day our baby died, God cried with us in that hospital room.

God did not cause the tumor. The day the doctor said the word “cancer” was a day of anguish for God as it was for us.

God did not create the layoff.  The day you were told that your job was ending, God stayed up with you and worried with you all night long.

And God did not take your loved one.  When they died, something inside of God died too.

What we all need to learn are very different definitions of “king,” “rule,” “reign” and “power”—very different because they define the ways of the only true and living God rather than defining our false gods and their ways.

So when life gets us down (and if we live any length of time at all in this world, it most certainly will), we need to remember the great truth of this day—Christ is the King. And this King is reigning, suffering, sacrificing and giving all that God has to give from the cross.

crown of thornsGod does not make mistakes.  God knows what God is doing.  God is in control.  But God’s throne is not made of silver and gold. God’s throne is made of wood and nails. God wears not a crown of jewels but a crown of thorns.

This past week I visited a lovely lady in the hospital who is dying with cancer. Doctors have given her about three months to live. With great faith and assurance and peace, she told me that everything was going to be all right. No, she is not delusional. Her mind is not clouded with morphine. She is at peace because her King reigns from a cross. Her King is not far away from her sitting a throne removed from her agony. Her King is at her side suffering with her. Her King is not above her pain.  Her King is experiencing her every pain. Her King is not slowly taking her life away from her. Her King is giving the King’s very life to her, pouring out the King’s very self into her, and promises her every minute of every day to see her through.

Because of this, she told me that she has never known a time in her life when she more close to her Lord. All of her despair has been transformed into hope. And she is absolutely convinced that her death will be transformed into life everlasting.

After she described the intensified intimacy she now shares with her Lord, she then said something miraculous. With a hopeful joy in her smile and eternity in her eyes, she told me that she is really looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving this year.  Think about that for a moment.

A woman, dying with cancer, told me that she has a lot for which to be thankful.

Don’t we all?

[i] Arthur McGill, Suffering: A Test of Theological Method, 61-63.

How God Always Responds to Death

On By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn Just a ThoughtLeave a comment

Sermon Excerpt from Death at a Funeral

Luke 7:11-15

840-casket-before-burial

This is how I believe our God always responds to death: God does not will death. God does not ordain death. God is not sitting on a throne pushing buttons calling people home. Luke teaches us that when someone dies, God is moved very deeply.  It is a visceral reaction.  God is flooded with compassion for both the deceased and the living. God does not ignore death or accept death as a natural part of life, but on the contrary, God confronts death, recognizes the harsh reality of it, the sheer evil of it, and God is moved from the very depths of who God is.

Therefore, it is very inaccurate to ever say that in death: “God takes people home.” I have said many times that God is a giver not a taker. It is the very nature of who our loving God is. It is far more accurate to say that when any death occurs, no matter the age, no matter the circumstance, God confronts it. God is moved with compassion. And God doesn’t take, but gives God’s self completely, fully and finally to the one who dies and his or her grieving family.

God does not ignore death, or demean death, or simplify death saying, “This is all part of my purpose driven plan.”  Through Jesus, God does not let any death at a funeral simply pass by like it is somehow meant to be.  Through Christ, God is moved with compassion and sees death as a force contrary to God’s will and acts to overcome it. God always acts to transform death at a funeral into life at a funeral.

Why Worship Seems Like a Waste of Time

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

Luke 18:9-14 NRSV

Why does the worship of God always seem to end up on the bottom of our list of priorities?  If there is almost anything else going on, any other place to go, any other activity to do, it takes precedence over our worship.  Fishing trip?—Oh, I can miss church for that.  A round of golf this Sunday?—No problem, I can easily skip church this week.  Run a marathon—I’m there. Missing worship?  No problem. But you’re the preacher! Don’t worry, I can work it out!

You know it and I know it, we’ll skip church to do just about anything else.  The sad truth is that sometimes we’ll even skip church so we can stay home and do absolutely nothing.  Out too late on Saturday night?—Not a problem, I can just sleep in on Sunday morning.

And when it comes to missing worship, just about any excuse will do. It’s too hot. It’s too cold. It’s too windy. It’s too rainy. It’s too bad outside and my bed is calling my name! It’s too nice outside and the beach is calling my name! It’s too cloudy. It’s too sunny. I’m too tired. I’ve just got too much energy and want to do something that is fun!

And we all know the reason why.  We don’t like to admit it, but we all know why.  Too often than not, worship just seems like a waste of time.  We get up and drag ourselves out of the bed, iron our shirt or blouse, get dressed, go through you-know-what to get the kids ready, drive to this place, climb up the steps, sit down, sing, pray, take communion, and listen to a preacher drone on and on—and for what?  What do we get out of it?  What’s it all for?

Twelve o’clock rolls around and nothing about us has really changed.  We really don’t feel any better. We don’t have a new desire to do any better, and we really don’t want to even be any better. We get in our car and drive home thinking about all of the other things we could have been doing instead of wasting our time sitting in church.

Why is this?  Why does the worship of God often seem like such a colossal waste of our time?  Why do we very seldom get anything out of it?

Maybe it’s the choir’s fault.  Someone sang off key.  That song sure wasn’t very uplifting.  It sounded more like a funeral dirge than an anthem.  Why can’t that choir ever sing anything that makes me want to tap my toes, clap my hands?

Maybe it was the organist’s fault.  She just wasn’t on today.  She played that thing today like she stayed out too late last night.  And that offertory, well it just didn’t do a thing for me!

But more than likely it was the preacher’s fault.  You call that a sermon!  I’d rather hear John Moore preach anytime. You’d think that with all of his experience and education, he could do better than that!  I just didn’t get a thing out of that message!

Well, I wished it was as easy as all that.

Perhaps you have heard the story about the man who left the worship service complaining.  He shook the preacher’s hand at the front door and grumbled: “That last song didn’t do a thing in the world for me!”  To which the preacher responded: “Who cares?!?  Because that song was not for you! It was for God.”

We must learn to get it through the self-centered, self-absorbed, big heads that worship is not God’s gift to us. Worship is our gift to God.  Worship is about giving; not receiving.  We do not come here on Sunday morning to get something out of it, but to give something through it, namely ourselves.  We come to offer God our hearts, minds, soul and strength.

However, that is not to say that God does not reciprocate. Through our worship of God, I believe there is something from God that we should receive. None of us should leave this place on Sunday morning empty.  Having come to give ourselves to God, I do believe we should leave full, blessed, forgiven, and according to our scripture lesson this morning— we should leave this place feeling “justified.”

But sometimes, that is just not the case is it?  Sometimes we do leave this place empty. Why?  Whose fault is it? This morning’s lesson is about two men who went to church to worship. Jesus says that only one of the men went back home “justified,” that is, made right with God, forgiven.  For the other, worship was a waste of time.  Why?

Let’s look at this story closer.

publican_and_phariseeBecause we have been listening to Jesus’ parables for eight weeks now, from the very outset we know Jesus is setting us up for one of his surprises. The Pharisee was a good person. He prayed a fine prayer. The works that he mentions in his prayer are excellent deeds. They are deeds that go far beyond the basic demands of Jewish law. Furthermore, this Pharisee thanks God for his good life, recognizing that even his virtues have come to him as gifts of God.

The publican is a bad person. He’s not exaggerating when he says that he’s a “sinner.”  His life’s work was fleecing the poor on the behalf of the Roman occupation government.  And because of it, he is hated by his fellow Jews.

The two men go to church. One—a good, bible-believing, church-going person with good and honest moral values.  The other—a despised collaborator with the oppressive Romans—a sinner and he knew it.  Guess which one goes home justified and which one merely wasted his time?

Jesus said that it is this despised Publican who went home from church that day full, blessed, forgiven and justified. Why?

We need to remember that every parable that Jesus ever told has one important thing in common. The purpose of the parable is to teach us something about God and God’s kingdom—how God acts, and what God desires.  Like worship, parables are not about us. Parables don’t tell us what we ought to do. Parables tell us what God, in Jesus Christ does.

So, this particular parable teaches us that there is simply something inalienable about our God that loves to forgive sinners. Our God always surprises us by embracing those, who, because of their sin, seem to be outside the boundaries of God’s love. Our God always surprises us by accepting and loving those people that the world, especially the religious people in the world, despises.

Do you want to get something out of worship?  Then we must understand that every aspect of what we do in this service on Sunday morning is an acknowledgement that we are all, every one of us, fallen, broken, sinful human beings in desperate need of God’s grace. Not one of us here is any better than any other.

We sing hymns to God.  Why?  Because singing is all we can do.  The gift of God’s grace—the gift of life, the gift of salvation, the gift of eternity can not be earned and can never be deserved.  We sing because we have been given gifts that we cannot repay.

We pray.  Why?  Because this gift of God’s grace draws us close to the Giver. We crave intimacy and communion with God. For without God, we would not be.

We celebrate the Lord’s Supper. Why? Because we remember that God, through Jesus, did for did for us what we cannot do for ourselves. We, through our deeds could not come close to God, so God through Christ came close to us. We break the bread and share the cup in remembrance that for love of us, God gave us the very best gift that God had to give—the gift of God’s very self.

We give monetary gifts.  Why?  Because we know that this is the best way to acknowledge that all that we have and all that we are and all that we will ever have and will ever be is a gift of God’s grace.

We listen to God’s Word.  Why?  Because we know that our sinful souls need to hear it and embrace it. We have fallen short of being the people that God has created us to be. We make bad choices. And we even mess up our good choices. We are lost in need desperate need of direction, and we are sinners in desperate need of forgiveness.  We need to hear God say: “I am with you and will always be with you. I am for you and will always be for you. I love you and will always love you.”

Two men went to the same church: same choir, same organist, same old tired preacher. One did everything right in life. He always did right by his friends, his community, his family. He could do no wrong. He prayed the most eloquent of prayers, and it was quite obvious to all that he was better than most—But when twelve o’clock rolled around, he wondered where in the world the preacher found his sermon. He wondered why the organist was so tired and why choir was so off key. He went home feeling as if he had wasted his entire Sunday morning.

The other man had made a mess of his life—at work, at home and with his friends, and he knew that no matter how hard he tried he was going to continue to make mistakes. He was a sinner and he knew it. He was better than no one. But when twelve o’clock came, he said to himself, “Well, I believe that right there was the best sermon I ever heard. The offertory today rocked.  And the choir, well the choir, never sounded so good.”

How to Get Something Out of Worship

On By Rev. Dr. Jarrett BanksIn Just a Thought1 Comment

worshipExcerpt from Why Worship Seems Like a Waste of Time

There is simply something inalienable about our God that loves to forgive sinners. Our God always surprises us by embracing those, who, because of their sin, seem to be outside the boundaries of God’s love. Our God always surprises us by accepting and loving those people that the world, especially the religious people in the world, despises.

Do you want to get something out of worship?  Then we must understand that every aspect of what we do in the service on Sunday morning is an acknowledgement that we are all, every one of us, fallen, broken, sinful human beings in desperate need of God’s grace. Not one of us is any better than any other.