Weekly Lessons and Sermon
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be always
acceptable in your sight, oh Lord our strength and our redeemer. Amen.
acceptable in your sight, oh Lord our strength and our redeemer. Amen.
 Last week, we spent some time reflecting together on the word “cultivate.”
We explored the different ways that the word is used, We thought about the kinds of emotions it strikes in us, And we thought about it in the context of the Bible and Theology. Today, you each received a little “Word cloud” with pieces of our reflection together. I invite you to take it home, hang it up somewhere, and continue to reflect on this word and what it means for you personally, and for us as a church. We’ve been talking about what we might want to cultivate, And how we might cultivate it. (I want to continue talking about that) But today I also want us to consider how God cultivates US. Because I think that God cultivates: God nourishes, gives growth, and enriches us in ways that are sometimes surprising, unpredictable, creative, and even shocking. And I got to thinking about it, thanks to the story of Abraham and Sarah, which is in our readings for today. The story of Abraham and Sarah, is a story of surprise. They have made a logical assumption that they wont be able to have kids of their own together. They live their lives as faithful Jews. And then. God moves. God cultivates them. They are changed and transformed. God blesses Abram and Sarai in ways that no one could have predicted. Not only with children, but with the blessing of a covenant: Something like a marriage, a religious vow, or even a sacred contract. God solidifies a relationship with them through a covenant and a promise, and they are transformed. They are SO Transformed, To the point that they even receive new NAMES: The name Sarai means “lady” or “princess” of one family. Her new name, Sarah, however, is expanded to “lady or princess for the MULTITUDE.” And we see the same phenomenon with Abraham. Abram means “exalted father” But Abraham means “Father of a multitude.” Their new identities are expanded in a way they never could’ve imagined. This is how god plants, and grows, and cultivates. Turning something old into something new that is beyond what we could’ve imagined. What would happen if we were open to the impossible? Open to being surprised, Open to being transformed? How would our lives change if we walked around, Open to meeting God in ways that are unexpected and surprising, And then let God cultivate us into something new? And maybe even a new thing that we haven’t ever anticipated or even considered. (Like randomly getting a new name at 99 years old!) Like Abraham and Sarah, God cultivates us out of love, But not always in ways that are predictable. The Apostle Paul understands this. In his letter to the Romans, he hearkens back to Abraham and Sarah. Paul is trying to teach the romans, these first generation of Jesus followers about inclusion and expansion: That God’s covenant with Abraham can include ALL people: Jew and Gentile. (Which wasn’t something any Jew previously thought could be possible) Paul teaches the Romans that God’s promises to Abraham and Sarah were not because they were following the right rules, or were the right kind of person. Instead, it was because they were faithful. It was not about what Abraham and Sarah did or didn’t do. It was their faithfulness to let God Cultivate them: Their TRUST that God was in control, And letting go of their own control, could lead them in unpredictable places. In our Gospel today, Jesus says we must lose our life in order to save our life. Maybe that means giving up predictability, A sense of control, In order to surrender to God’s mysterious cultivation. After all, Jesus’ entire ministry reflects the surprising ways that God works in the world, the way God takes human assumptions, and turns them on their head. In this scene, when Jesus reveals that he will suffer: That he will be rejected and defeated by his political rivals, the disciples are shocked. The savior is supposed to be a great king, a warrior, a super-human. Throughout generations, the Messiah was predicted to be a king descending from David. Instead, Jesus assumes a posture of humility: And allows himself to suffer: Like the real true human that he is. It’s a shocking twist: That the savior messiah: Would be cultivated by God to suffer death. But in God’s surprising unpredictability, Jesus expands our understanding of God to include the experience of humanity: From birth to death. Jesus’ entire life is a testament to God’s covenant and blessing. God loves us so much that God sent Jesus as a human. A human who cried, got angry, got hungry, fought with his friends, and even died. It’s a twist that both challenges our assumptions, And personalizes God in a way that builds intimacy and personal relationship. Sometimes, it’s really hard to accept God’s twisty-turny way of working. The disciple Peter really gets that. Peter releases his own confusion and anger, perhaps his own loss of control by arguing with Jesus. And Jesus rebukes him directly and openly. He reminds Peter and all of his disciples: Including us today: That God’s story isn’t ours to have as we will. We don’t get to choose what the final cultivation will look like: Or what the plant we’re cultivating will ultimately grow into. As soon as we look for the convenient, comfortable, cozier way to follow God in our lives, We have lost the power of Jesus’ death and ultimately his resurrection. Because death and resurrection—and the surprising unpredictability of God’s cultivation—is what it means to be a Christian. It’s not convenient, and its not easy. It’s not a get out of jail free card, And it’s not a ticket to heaven. Being a Christian means holding on for dear life: Holding on to God’s love while faithfully allowing God to cultivate his love in us. Being a Christian means a willingness to be transformed, A willingness to admit that we don’t know everything, And that God can AND WILL constantly surprise use. Let’s be willing, faithfully, to be cultivated by God. Amen.
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We had a discussion during our sermon about the word "cultivate" what it means, what it stirs in us. Homework: contemplate this for your family and for the community of St. John's. Bring your thoughts for more discussion next Sunday.
cultivate (verb) · cultivates (third person present) · cultivated (past tense) · cultivated (past participle) · cultivating (present participle)
A fever. A heat radiating through the body. Medically, a fever tells us that there’s a heightened body temperature: Due to some internal malfunction or disease. People get fevers when they’re sick. Lots of people have had them recently with the flu. And a fever is nothing too abnormal. We’ve all had one, or two, or a hundred at one time or another. When we are physically ill: We want a cure to make us feel better. But sometimes: Even though we may be feeling better: Or cured of our ailment: It doesn’t always mean that we are healed. The Bible’s understanding of healing is much more than “feeling better.” Much more than having a normal body temperature. Real & true healing is a restoration of wholeness: Wholeness in body, mind, and spirit. When we are truly healed: Even if we’re not cured of a physical ailment: We have the ability to rejoin our community: To experience, spread, and share wholeness. And this is exactly what happens to Simon’s mother in law in today’s Gospel story. She’s in bed with a fever: Like many before and many after her. There’s nothing abnormal about this. But what follows: Is something truly special. Jesus: takes the woman by the hand: Lifts her up: And the fever leaves her. She was not merely cured of her ailment. She was restored to wholeness: restored to her community. And her healing in wholeness demanded a response. And she responded. The woman then immediately begins to serve them. It’s interesting that the word translated here as “serve” Is the same word that Jesus uses to describe himself as the “one who comes to serve.” It’s also the same word used when the angels “waited on” Jesus in the wilderness. Simon’s mother in law: Is restored to such complete wholeness: That she takes on the servanthood of the Angels, and of Jesus himself. This is the embodiment of discipleship: Self-less service to others: A full commitment to give of one’s self to change the lives of others. And the response is immediate. It seems to me: That after Jesus heals this woman: Her physical, flu like fever left her: And another: quite different fever took hold. A fever of fervor: Fervor meaning: an “Intense and passionate feeling” And Another definition of fever (Besides heightened body temperature) is that of: “A state of exited emotion or activity.” A fever that causes us to move: To Act: To respond: And to serve in excited, self-giving compassion: A kind of fever of wholeness: that wont give up—wont give in. A fever of fervor. This is exactly what happened to Simon’s Mother in law. And this is exactly what Paul is talking about when he says: “Woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel!” Because Paul has caught the fever of fervor: The fever of fervor in which he can’t imagine doing anything else: He can’t let go: He can’t give in: But has a state of excited emotion and activity: An intense feeling and expression of the Good News of the Gospel: And a need to share it with all people. But the fever of fervor is also a paradox: When Simon’s mother in law is freed of her physical fever: Her amazement, her gratitude, and her blessedness causes her to catch the fever of fervor. She has been blessed: In order to be a blessing. She has been freed in order to be a servant. Paul too: recognizes the perfect freedom in Christ: A perfect freedom which is in itself a paradox: The release of the fever from sin: Leads Paul to the fever of fervor: In which he can do nothing else but share and proclaim the good news. Perfect freedom: Leads us to the wholeness of service with the fever of fervor. We are freed in order to submit ourselves to something else: To Christ: To others: And to a life of fervent, faithful, feverish service. Jesus’ life is a life of fervent service. Throughout the entirety of his life: Jesus is in the middle of the suffering: In the middle of the sorrows, demons, sins, and physical fevers across the world, Freeing humanity of all of it. But even Jesus needs to take some time away: Some time for renewal and refreshment. Some time of quiet prayer. We hear in the story today, That after many healings, In the morning: Jesus gets up, and goes to a deserted place: And there he prayed. After all that pouring out of himself: Of giving of himself: Of serving and proclaiming: Jesus needed to get in touch with God again. To give God the burdens: To give God the desperate needs of the world: So that even Jesus: can be freed to continue in service with the fever of fervor. So that Jesus can keep going: freeing each and every one of us. In order that we might spread the fever ourselves: The fever of excited emotion and activity for what we have seen and felt through God’s astounding love. Yet like Jesus: We too need a quiet place. A place to take the time we need for ourselves. A place to pray. A place that frees us more deeply: To enter back into the paradox of free servanthood. To bring us back to wholeness. After we’ve spent our freedom giving others their needs. When your boss needs, When your family needs, When your school needs, When your church needs, When your friend needs, When you give: And you serve: In the fever of fervor: There comes the point where YOU need. Where YOU need to give it all to God. So that you can spread the fever again fervently to the rest of the world. And this is why we gather together here. To receive food for the journey. To exhale the fever we carry on behalf of others throughout the week. To give our burdens, our worries, and our fears to God. Who takes them: Frees us from them: And places inside a new fever of fervor: To return again into the world in feverish wholeness for yet another round. Amen. Announcements:
Ash Wednesday Service 2/14/2024 at the First Congregational Church of Church, 110 E. Hancock St. New London. 6 pm Pancake Supper, 7pm service. Soup Social, Sunday, 2/18/2024 Sign up available at church We welcome Fr. Wilson Roan on 2/11/24 |