Sunday, July 20, 2014

Who Is Your Rock?


Isaiah 44:6-8

Remember Looney Tunes cartoons?
Remember Wiley Coyote and Road Runner?
For the benefit of the younger folks, Wiley Coyote was always in pursuit of the Road Runner, never to actually catch him.   The Road Runner never really outwitted the coyote, and he never came across as particularly savvy; the coyote was just constantly a victim of his own hubris.  He always assumed he was more capable than he actually was at catching the Road Runner, and inevitably in every episode something would go wrong, and prove the coyote to be...well...human.
There is this one scene that comes quickly to mind.  He thinks he has finally trapped the long-legged bird, when the scene zooms out to show that he is standing on the edge of a cliff, and then the rock beneath his feet crumbles and he falls into the ravine...as he so often does.

Isn't that the way life is, sometimes?
We think we're pursuing our goals and then the ground beneath our feet falls away.

Recently, my wife told me that I was her rock.
Has anyone ever said that to you?  It's humbling.
I'm proud of the fact that I am able to offer some measure of strength and consistent support for her.  The Lord knows how much I depend on her as a source of support and encouragement.
I hope that in similar ways I am somewhat of a rock for my son, my family and my parents.  I want them to know that I will be there for them as a secure source of hope, guidance, and support.

But, the truth is, I'm not a rock.
I'm as vulnerable as the coyote on the cliff.

In my 14 years of experience I've done many funerals and weddings.  At them, I've heard countless people declare their devotion to another with words similar to that of "so and so has been my rock"
I've heard speeches from cancer survivors thanking their immediate caregivers with these same sentiments.
I've listened to people describe their road to recovery from addictions or sinful habits as that of being unable to have done such a thing without so and so being a rock in their lives.

Still, I'm willing to bet that each of these "rocks" know the same humbling truth that I speak about today.
This is the truth that our Scripture reminds us today...
None of us are actually the "rocks" our loved ones think we are.

It's no secret, really.  We are all as vulnerable as the coyote on the cliff.

Yet, there still exists the need for someone to be that unmoving object in our life--that rock of faith, endurance, security.  We all need someone to give us a place to stand that we can depend on; someone to support us when no one else does; someone to love us when no one else will.

From the prophet Isaiah, God declares to us that He will be our rock.
God asks for our trust in him above all other things we might trust in.
God tells us, "There is no other rock."
Noting else we can stand on that wont erode, or fall apart.
God is our rock--an unmoving, unchanging, unwavering solid ground upon which we can stand strong and remain faithful.
And, through the gospel, God shows us that His rocky, unmoving strength for us comes through the gift of Jesus' loves for us.
The way Jesus loves us...willing to die for us...willing to suffer for our benefit...paradoxically, this is our strength, our security.  With faith in God's love for us beneath our feet, we are strengthened and supported through life.

If I am able to be any kind of rock for my wife, my son, my siblings, my parents...I know deep down where the truth lies within me...that it is not because of a strength or security that I come up with on my own.  It is because of God's love for me, because the love of Christ is in my heart and soul, and therefore it is beneath my feet.
If I am able to be any kind of rock for anyone, it is because God is my rock.

I believe this is the truth for all of us.
When we use that expression, describing someone as our rock, we are pointing to God working in and through our lives.

We may know that we are incapable of truly being a "rock" for those around us.  But, we have a God, who is our rock.  With faith the ground beneath us may give away, and still we are upheld with hope.

With God supporting us, providing us with secure and solid ground we find within our love for one another a kind of strength that defies our weakness and vulnerabilities.  It is a kind of strength that isn't ours, but a strength that is most profoundly noticed when we are willing to give it to others in spite of our weaknesses.

With God as our rock, we have a model of godly love.  We have Christ.  With Christ we are strengthened to be strong for others.  With Christ, we can be like him, we can be like the rock for others.


The following is a video of one Father whose love for his son is an example of God's love for us.  It refuses to quit or give way beneath his son.  The father's love stands as solid as a rock for his son.



Just as this father's love is a rock for his son, our Heavenly Father's love is a rock for us.  It empowers us to stand strong for those we love.  

Today, consider the people who have been been or who are your rocks.  
Thank them.
How can you be a rock for others?  

Amen.

Friday, July 11, 2014

The 3rd Sacrament

While sifting through some unedited media I came across this message from a year ago about the value of church fellowship.  I only had the audio, but I've added a few slides and thought it was worth posting.

Blessings,
Pastor Rich


Sunday, July 06, 2014

Fireworks of Hope


Zechariah 9:9-12

It’s 4th of July weekend.
Did you take in fireworks?

Ever wonder where this tradition of setting off a kaleidoscope of gunpowder in our sky every 4th of July came from?

Our first Independence Day celebration was held in Philadelphia on July 4th, 1777, when the country was still in the grip of the Revolutionary War.  Citizens came together to watch our nation’s sky illuminated in a grand display that was meant to raise their spirits. “I think they wanted to inspire hope, and it worked,” says James Heintze, author of The Fourth of July Encyclopedia. After that first fireworks display, news spread and fireworks took hold in every 4th of July ever since.

So, that first fireworks display was to inspire hope...
Hope for a war-torn nation of people who weren't sure if the freedom they sought would ever truly be realized.

Zechariah writes in a time and to a people of similar circumstances.  
Like the bondage of colonization, Israel had spent better than 50 years in the bondage of Babylonian captivity.  It was a dark and bewildering time for Israel.  
But, into that darkness Zechariah spoke God's Word of promise, and it broke open with hope for a troubled people the way fireworks fill the darkness with light and beauty, and most of all---power.  
It was the power of God's love.
To a people who thought that God may very well have abandoned them, left them to their sinful ways in Babylon, Zechariah's prophetic announcement broke over them with the promise that God had not left them...that God would never leave them.  Even more, God was about to make a way for their freedom.  

To us, we hear these prophetic words a bit differently.  With the gift of looking back on Zechariah's prophecy having now unfolded into historical truth, we remember the way Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday as the fulfillment of Zechariah's words.  We understand that just as Jesus came on a donkey, with power are mercy found in humble service.  The love of God witnessed by all as this messiah would be crowned with thorns and enthroned on a cross.  Yet, our faith and trust in this King has become the very source of our spiritual freedom.  

Still, his grace and mercy break forth in our souls like fireworks when we cry out in prayer, when we confess our sins, when we receive him in the bread and cup.  

God's undying love and mercy for us.  This is what frees us from the darkness and bondage of sin that we experience today.  
And, they break forth the promise of the kingdom of heaven to us, like fireworks of hope within our souls.

The Gospel of John declares that if Christ has set you free, you are free indeed.

You are free!
Not because of anything you have done, or anything to do with the nation we live in, but because of what Christ has done for you.
You are free...
free to live your life with a renewed sense of God's will as your purpose.
Free to serve and care for others.
Free to share the same source of encouragement with others that Zechariah spoke to Israel, that Christ gave to his disciples, which has been passed onto you by the Holy Spirit through the church.
You are free to set off fireworks of hope in the dark and troubled places of your world.

So, try it today...tomorrow...whenever
If you think gunpowder exploding in the sky is beautiful, wait till you get a load of the hope that God breaks open in the people around you when you encourage them with the power of God's love by your words and actions.
Encourage others, as God encourages you...and enjoy the fireworks!!

Amen.

Pastor Rich

Pastor Rich