specific Bulletin
pieces for
SUNDAY, JULY 19, 2020
Introduction to the Prayer of Confession... a teaching
moment - why we do what we do.
Scripture
says that, “If we claim that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth
is not in us, but if we confess our sins, God who is faithful and just, will
forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:8,9). Repentance is an integral part of our
relationship with God for it is sin that separates us from the one who created
us and loves us beyond measure. We ask
God to forgive us not just at a singular point in our lives (Baptism,
conversion, etc…) but as an ongoing means of the Holy Spirit convicting us,
drawing us closer to God, renewing us, and transforming us into the likeness of
Christ (II Corinthians 3:18).
The
unison prayer of confession is a means of recognizing that, “All have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). More than just for ourselves or specific
individuals, this prayer confesses that human nature (the ways of the
flesh/world, in Biblical language) is itself sinful without God’s redeeming
presence in our lives. A time for silent
prayers (30-60 seconds) is provided to reflect on our relationship with God and
how we might draw closer. Some will use
this time to confess specific transgressions.
All can use this time to acknowledge our need of a Savior – the Lord
Jesus Christ.
The
Assurance of Pardon is a means of accepting the love and grace God offers. “If anyone sins we have someone who pleads
with the Father on our behalf- Jesus Christ the righteous one. And Christ himself is the means by which our
sins are forgiven, and not our sins only, but also the sins of everyone” (I
John 2:1-2). We respond to this process
of confession (prayer) and forgiveness with praise. Since the “wages of sin are death, but the
gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23) we
celebrate with a short song or ascription of praise. This response could be any means of praise.
We typically
use the Gloria Patri as our means of returning praise to God.
Glory
be to the Father,
And
to the Son,
And
to the Holy Ghost,
As
it was in the beginning,
Is
now and ever shall be,
World
without End
Amen. Amen.
The Gloria Patri was used by the early church (2nd
century) as an ascription of praise during worship. The name is actually the first line of the
song as sung in Latin (Glory be to the Father = Gloria Patri).
All this being true and right, today
I want to approach our Prayer of Confession and assurance of God's Pardon from
a different angle the fits with our Scripture and message. As Christians, we need to come to faith
(ourselves), grow in faith, and share the faith. All God's children have a
mission and ministry to call others into repentance and to know the goodness of
God's grace and God's plan for them. After all, Romans 10:9-13 says,
9 If
you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in
your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For
it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your
mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11 As
Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” 12 For there is no difference between Jew and
Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of
the Lord will be saved.”
This is what we want others to do.
It's very hard to start a loving relationship where outsiders will listen if
your first words and only words are, "Repent! You are a sinner!" Even
if this is true, as it is of a of us, people aren't listening after that point.
As "Insiders," those who
have already come to faith and are growing in faith, we are encouraged to make
our confession because we know the grace of God already. As an "Outsider"
(and this is Paul's term from today's reading in Colossians), wouldn't you be
encouraged to repent if you first heard and were assured of your pardon? How much easier is it to approach God if you knew His nature
is that of Grace?!
To help us think about this, just
for today we are starting with the Assurance of Pardon, our
confession/repentance will follow in the form of Silent Prayer... Romans 8
outlines beautifully the problem of sin and God's desire for us to forgiven of
sin...
Assurance of Pardon (Romans 8:1-4, 5, 6-8, 12-15, 16-17, 31-34)
One: Therefore,
there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ
Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful
nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a
sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the
righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live
according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
All: Those who live
according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature
desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set
on what the Spirit desires.
One: The mind of
sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;
the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it
do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. Therefore,
brothers, we have an obligation--but it is not to the sinful nature, to live
according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die;
but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live,
because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not
receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the
Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."
All: The Spirit himself testifies
with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are
heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his
sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
(Silent Prayer and Reflection)
One: What, then, shall we
say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did
not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along
with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against
those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns?
Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right
hand of God and is also interceding for us.
Faith in Christ and Love for the Saints
Colossians
4:2-6
"Salt and Grace"
Introduction: The Invisible Sweater
Kathy lived in a sad and angry
world. Her experience with legalism as a child had left her with painful scars
of guilt, self-doubt, and the hatred of pastors. Kathy knew all about pastors.
In her mind they were the self-righteous dispensers of legalism which left her
with jagged scars of guilt and remorse. In time, her entire demeanor had become
a projection of those old wounds. Her life, her words, and her gestures had
become one sustained cry for help. Only those of us who loved her could hear
her calling out in pain.
I remember the day when Kathy
attended my Communicator's Workshop (Ken Davis). Those seminars, of course, are
magnets for ministerial types. Kathy knew that. That's why she stood by the
door, taking the measure of the auditorium. "I hate pastors," she
said, adding a curse for an extra flourish of defiance. She fixed her glare on
a tall, distinguished gentleman with snow-white hair and murmured, "Typical
preacher!" Keep him away from me – I will not be responsible for what I do
if he gets too close. She wasn't kidding.
I wondered for years how I could
break through into Kathy's world. For that matter, I wondered if it could even
be done. My own universe was brightly illumined by God's healing of broken
lives. I lived out the blessing of seeing despair transformed to hope on a
regular basis. But for Kathy, real hope seemed unavailable at any price.
Being sensitive to her 'clerical
aversion,' I tried to accommodate Kathy by keeping her segregated from the
pastors she loathed. But I could never rearrange enough chairs to block the
shrewd, gracious, marvelous maneuvering of God. Kathy wandered into her room
filled nearly to capacity. At that point, only two adjoining seats were
unfilled. She'd at least have a one-seat pastor-free zone. She made her choice
and settled into her place. And as she did so, the distinguished, white-haired
pastor she had loathed appeared and claimed the other chair. Her seating assignment
was sealed for the duration, yoking her with the living embodiment of ministers
everywhere – the "Arch-pastor" himself! The full horror of this
dawned on her. I saw the expression that came across her face, but the
situation was out of my hands. I watched curiously as the days and sessions
played out. Kathy was a captive audience for dozens of presentations
proclaiming the power of God. She heard the stories of lives changed forever by
forgiveness.
And inevitably, she was called on to
interact with those around her. On these occasions she was loved and treated
kindly, time after time. The whole experience amounted to a leisurely
demolition of her long-held and deeply held stereotypes of God and the
Christian faith.
None of this is to say that she surrendered
without a struggle. On the contrary, she clung tenaciously, willfully, to the
fortifications of her biases. But I came to understand the reason God hadn't
allowed me to shelter Kathy from the presence of the dreaded white-haired
pastor, whose name happened to be Gordon. She sat – fully disarmed – beside one
of the kindest, gentlest spirits I'd ever met. Kathy persisted in treating him
coldly. He would retaliate just as stubbornly with warmth and kindness.
Something had to give. The X-factor turned out to be Kathy's chain-smoking
habit. She was coping with an added layer of tension because the building was
smoke-free. With every break in the sessions, she inevitably bolted for the
door in a cold sweat. One day we were finishing a very quick 'stand and stretch'
break when Kathy burst into the building. Short of breath and trailing a cloud
of smoke, she ran right into Gordon. "What are you doing?" he asked.
Quite predictably, Kathy fired back
a retort fueled by all the criticism and judgment she'd endured over the years.
"I was smoking a cigarette," she snapped. "What's it to you?"
Taking her vehemence in stride, the
pastor glanced at his watch. "You couldn't have done it justice," he
drawled, a huge smile creeping across his face. "You should take a little
more time."
Who could have predicted it? This
was a nondescript moment, a trivial bit of small talk. Some deep, entrenched
barrier within Kathy's heart chose that particular moment to begin to give way.
In the face of her rude behavior, Gordon's simple goodness prevailed. Without
even trying, he broke through to her world by accepting her just the way she
was – loving her despite her inability to love back.
Gordon's goodwill punched a small
hole in the great dam she'd been constructing, at tremendous emotional expense,
for decades. The dam held back the rivers of God's care for her. It had pushed
back the currents of concerns that flowed from those who loved her. Most of
all, Kathy's dam had stifled her magnificent potential to love others. And now
the dam was breached, once and for all.
The hole in the dam only grew in the
aftermath. When her turn came to give a speech on the topic of her choice,
Kathy offered up a heart-rending exercise in vulnerability titled, "Snake
or Savior?" She laid bare her terror of reaching out to God for fear of
being bitten one more time. Her soul, she explained, could bear no further scars.
The floodgates fully opened. Kathy
finally did what had seemed unthinkable just a day or two earlier, she placed
her trust in the only One who could heal her bruised heart. She faced her Maker
honestly, willingly, and without reservation.
The transformation was instantaneous
and dramatic. When she returned to her job, her coworkers didn't recognize her.
She looked younger and carried herself more lightly. Anger, bitterness, had
been erased from her face. Kathy was at peace, but that was only the beginning.
Her marriage flourished and grew.
Today Kathy has become what she most
dreaded. She is the pastor of a small church on the East Coast. She teaches at
the same workshop for God's love that finally in broke through in her life.
Among those fortunate enough to enter the realm of her ministry, she
demonstrates an uncanny gift of reaching beyond the aching defenses of life's
walking wounded. The embittered Kathy who hurled stones at every Christian in sight
is gone forever. The Kathy of today is a joyful spirit who lavishes time and
love on the elderly and dying. She speaks passionately to audiences about the
power of reaching people by loving them where they are, the adventure of
entering the world of people like Helen:
"I met Helen," Kathy
begins, "when she was 101 years old. She was my hospice patient for
months. They finally kicked her out of the program when she turned 102 because
she was doing too well to qualify. That's Helen all over. The last I heard, she
was celebrating her 103rd birthday. Helen was one of the most joyful people
I've ever known. This elderly saint had a gentle, laughing spirit. She was
alert and conversant, delighting in our visits. But Helen's reality was not our
reality, she lived in a world of her own. The people who populated her days
were people I couldn't see or hear. They were ghosts from her past – old
memories would come to life again for Helen. I knew I had both feet in the real
world. I asked myself how I could somehow meet Helen in the special place in
which she lived. I had to learn how to step through the portal into her world.
One day, as my son and I were
visiting with Helen, she picked up some cloth that was invisible to us. She
straightened her needle and thread, neither of which we could see – she began
to sew a phantom sweater with meticulously perfect stitches. She smiled
brightly as we discussed the delicacy of the fabric and the neat rows of
thread. But her hands apparently became clumsy. She dropped the sewing needle.
Then my son and I were down on the floor on our hands and knees, peering under
tables and chairs. We found ourselves joining in the search for a needle that
existed only in Helen's mind. Helen's world had indeed become ours.
That's why I'm wearing tonight, in
Helen's honor, the sweater she made me…"
At this point, Kathy turns slowly, 360°,
to show us a sweater that doesn't exist.
There's no thread or cloth, no buttons or color. But
it's a mantle of salt and grace... just as Paul asks of Believers, 6"Let your conversation
be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer
everyone." Two examples in that
story of "outsiders" touched by God, through unlikely opportunities
and the witness of two of his children.
We have a job to do
·
This is
not just Paul's mission - to do evangelism. It is our mission as a Church and
as followers of Christ - to share the Good news! To help, to encourage, to
instruct, to model, to lead, others into a saving knowledge of who Jesus Christ
is - so that they will repent, believe, and, and know God's grace and
salvation. Right?!
·
Colossians 4:5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
·
"Be
Wise." Wisdom comes from God, of course.
I still say it, it used to be kind of my motto, "Wisdom is not just
what to do, but how to do it." We
need to call all the world to repent, but they will listen if how we say it is
full of salt and grace. This is God's
plan and way of doing things, mine
sounds more like, "Duh..." "Uhm..."
·
The
Colossian's speech is to be Salty. In
our idiom, salty language is something replete with profanities, but obviously
that is not Paul's meaning. 'Seasoned with salt' was used to refer to witty,
amusing, clever, humorous speech. Their saltiness will prevent them from being
ignored as irrelevant bores, or legalistic preachers. Because as believers we
live in a hostile context, we need to have our answers ready for those who
challenge or curious about their faith.
·
"Witty,
amusing, clever..." salty speech - no pressure there. In the last week
I've tried to get junior hires to tell jokes. I printed off all kinds of jokes.
It was such a fail. If there internal batteries were not on 5%, making them
punchy and silly, there would have been no laughs at all. They were simply
laughing that my jokes were such a joke. "You call these jokes?" Actually,
come to think of it - they were probably laughing at me... I was the joke. But
how can I compare to Youtube, Tiktok and a culture that thrives on being coarse,
etc. And I'm not a cute kitten loop either.
I can't compete. Nor should I.
·
To
succeed in making them laugh like they do with other forms of media, means that
I must rise or in this case, descend, to that level. And this is my first critique of typical
Christian Witness - we just blend in.
And if we just blend in - we are not witnessing/saying anything... we
are just more noise. Understand? WE HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY. Or at least we
should.
·
Thumbing
through a book that had gathered dust in my office, I came across a friend's
business card. She is a photographer. Right now, actually, she's about 95% wife
and mother, but every once in a while she gets to be a photographer. I was
struck by how handsome her business card was/is. It has a headshot of her
looking off over the Mexican countryside, but it wasn't a glamour shot. They
look very natural and looked very much her, the wind causing strands of hair to
cover her face in places. It's a picture so I'm already fond of it, but since I
hadn't seen it in a long time I looked at it more objectively and just thought
it was, well, perfect. And it needs to be, it is for photographer. I'm just
gonna say, if it had been a 'selfie' with her arm stretched out in front of
her, half in the picture, I would've been disappointed and thought that I can
be just as good a photographer as her. What does a Christian's business card
look like?
·
My
second critique of Christian Witness is this, far too often Christians have a
reputation for being judgmental. Especially
since politics is our currency these days and the silent majority has been
whittled down to a silent minority with both the left and the right becoming
quite noisy!
·
A Christian's
business card should look like GRACE. This is the
Good News, right?! Some will say, "Repent! And God will love you."
Or, we can tell them some Good News, "God loves you, would you willingly
now give your life to God?" This is
the whole idea behind us playing with our Worship order and saying the
Assurance of our Pardon first in order to encourage repentance. Our Worship order is geared toward
"Insiders" and not "Outsiders," so we aren't going to change
it... probably, though we can, of course.
The point is that our business card needs to be Grace... It will be
heard, it will sound nothing like the world around us, it will not be just more
noise... and it will not be boring, it
is not legalistic, it is truth, it embodies the word and work of our Savior.
·
Romans
2:4 "Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and
patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to
repentance?"
Conclusion
·
I'm actually going backwards
through our scripture for the day... here are the first verses we read,
2Devote yourselves to
prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.
So just a word, in conclusion,
about Paul's starting place in all this - Prayer.
·
My usual
soapbox when it comes to prayer, is the say that, "Prayer is not
overcoming God's reluctance, but laying hold of God's willingness." This is how Christians tend to pray, as if
they are trying to coerce God to act. As if they have to plead their case and
convince God to answer their prayer. Or, I'll say out loud what is implied, to
convince God to answer their prayer in the manner in which they want it
answered. But, now that I snuck that in there - got to say it again... this is
what I want you to understand today...
My
natural inclination is to want an Apple, I don't want seeds.
·
When it comes
to evangelism, we can be so timid. We just want answers to our prayers, and
it's a different thing to yield to the answers God would give us. It's hard for
us to speak of Christian things to outsiders, it's hard for us to stand out,
it's hard for us to endure ridicule, it can be hard for us to defend our faith.
And so we are hesitant to do it. Sure, we know we are to do evangelism, but we
want to be there when the Apple is fully ripe and falls from the tree. I
volunteer to catch it - Woo hoo! But for most of the life of that apple, they
all start as a seed and it has to grow and be watered and grow and be watered
and see the sunshine and grow and be watered until the final point when that outsider
has ripened and matured gives their life over to the creator. Pray for the
Harvest, but pray also for the laborers and seed planters.
As fellow
Christian, as a co-laborers with Christ, I see that beautiful invisible
sweater. The world does not, cannot,
without faith, but I know you are on a mission.
We are all on a mission. 4"Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should"... and I will pray that you
"may proclaim it clearly, as you should."
