Advent 4 "Between Ordinary and Extraordinary"

Readings: Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19, Romans 1:1-17, Isaiah 7:10-16, Matthew 1:18-25
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, December 18, 2022

The early Christian church were not slow in capitalizing on ancient festivals. In the light of already existing festivals that celebrated the end of winter and the coming of the light of a New Year, they saw an opportunity to mark the end of December as a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Son of God, who came to bring light for our darkness.  Today the Christmas experience remains a strange mix of pagan, religious and secular traditions that over the centuries have become intertwined and create an ever-evolving festival.

In this week’s passage Matthew gives us Joseph's side of the birth story, as well as Jesus being given the name “Emmanuel” which means “God is with us.” It's all rather condensed and if you sneezed, you might miss it.  You don't want to miss it.

It is a story about extraordinary things happening to ordinary people. And the vision behind the story is that it invites ordinary people, like you and me, to be open to the possibility of doing extraordinary, heavenly inspired, kingdom related things. We are called to be light in the darkness. How can we do that? Because God is with us.

The darkness is real. I don't just mean the nights coming in earlier, that's bad enough, I mean that other darkness that none of our lives are immune from. We have troubles and struggles and situations that we are working through. We have imperfect families and compromised lives and there is tragedy and death and illness and unwelcome surprises that throw us into a spin. Is God mad at us? No. It's just life.

Christmastime can be tough for many people. It can be dark for any of us, and it can be especially dark for the least and the last and the left out in our world. It is meant to be about peace and love and hope and joy, and if our lives are lacking in those things, the gap between where we would like to be and where we are seems like an insurmountable chasm. Some memories blight rather than bless. It is supposed to be this extraordinary time of the year. But we, like Mary and like Joseph, are ordinary people.

In our reading Joseph is going through a dark time. He has just found out that the woman of his dreams is pregnant, and he can't figure out how. In their culture engagement was a lot more than engagement is today. It was a done deal. A legal contract. Those who broke it faced a harsh penalty. Stoning. Game over. You broke the rules, now you will pay. With your life.

Joseph loved Mary way too much for that. He was an ordinary guy with an extraordinary crush on the object of his affections. The text tells it rather matter of fact. “Being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, Joseph planned to dismiss her quietly.”

Understatement! The guy’s world had just come crashing down around him. And, righteous or not, he was not going to do what the law required. For sure Mary had tried to explain that what was happening to her was tied up with God's plans. Really? God would plan to use ordinary people like them to fulfill some higher purpose? None of it made sense.

He decides to sleep on it. While he sleeps, he has this vivid dream. The kind of dream that seemed more real than his waking moments. The kind of dream he would have again... and in the future it would result in his family’s salvation from a murderous King, their relocation to Egypt and finally settling in Nazareth. An angel tells him “Take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”

When the Holy Spirit moves upon or within a person’s life, you just don't know what the outcome is going to be. You just have to go with it. I've been a pastor long enough to observe things I honestly cannot explain, rationalize, or dismiss. Events that just all fell into place. Things not turning out as they should. Deliverance from natural events. Coincidences that can only be God-incidences. Healing that the doctors could not fathom. These things are way beyond me. I observe. The Holy Spirit works, and I've learned to let it be. Let it go. Because if I try and make sense of it, I have no words.

Mary came to be with child. Joseph couldn't make sense of it. Neither can I. The angel tells him, “The child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” Joseph, gets out of bed, gives up trying to figure it out and just goes with it. He puts into practice the faith that the angel has asked of him. “The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is practice.” When we practice the faith that God seeks to release within us, ordinary people start to experience extraordinary things.

The reason it is all happening, and the thing that can also turn our lives around, is that Jesus is now in the picture.  Isn't that what we celebrate at Christmas? Is not that what we sing in our carols? “Joy to the world! The Lord is come: Let earth receive her King.” “Silent night, Holy Night, Christ the Savior is born!” “Good Christian Friends rejoice, Christ is born today!”

The next significant thing that happens in this passage is that the angel tells us the name of this child being birthed by the Holy Spirit. “You are to name Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:  ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel’, which means, ‘God is with us.’”

What's in a name? I've seen billboards and bumper stickers declaring the simple message, “Jesus saves.” I have also heard wonderful testimonies of people telling how Jesus saved them from their sins. But sometimes I walk away thinking, well that's great what Jesus did for them back then, but what is God up to in their lives now?

These are not the easiest days for many, many traditional churches. There is a tendency for congregations to keep looking back to their glorious past, and forget the Christmas message, that the God of the past is still with them in their present and quite capable of birthing new things for their future. 

In Hebrew, the name “Emmanuel” is a phrase, rather than a static word. Its meaning is not simply “God is with us,” but can also be rendered “God is in community with us” or  even “God is one of us.”  The Gospel of John captures it's meaning when in his prologue he writes “The Word became flesh and lived among us.” (John 1:14)

 “What if God was one of us?” asked a songwriter some years back. The startling revelation of “Emmanuel” that not only has God been with God's people throughout the ages but remains in the midst of the community of God's people, totally identifying with their struggles and with their darkness... as one of them.

This was Joseph's struggle. It wasn't just that Mary was to have a child, it was that he and Mary were just the same flesh and blood as all humanity and the very notion that God could birth something extraordinary into the heart of their incredibly ordinary lives was hard to accept.

Such remains our struggle, both as church communities and individuals. Can God's Kingdom work of salvation and healing and peace and justice and hope and love, really be actualized though ordinary people like you and me? The answer Christmas offers to us is a huge resounding, out loud and proud “Yes” because that is why Jesus came.

So much in this story would not have happened if ordinary people had not made a practice of putting their faith into action. I'm sure you know the musician’s joke. “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” “Practice, practice, practice.” The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is practice.

Be present for your families. Be present for those whose needs you can meet. Be present in worship and service. Be present in prayer. Be present in your stewardship. Be present in those tasks to which God is calling you, be present in the midst of the ordinary everyday life that we live, because it is when we practice our faith that extraordinary things can happen. The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is practice, practice, practice.

At a moment of great personal darkness and confusion, in a dream an angel appeared to Joseph and said “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid.”  Our dreams remain flights of fancy until we act upon them. It is because Jesus is with us, as one of us, that we can find the strength to move forward. It is because God's Holy Spirit is still able to birth things in our ordinary lives beyond our comprehension, that we have hope and see possibilities where others see only problems.

The seasons shall follow seasons. There will be light. There will be darkness. The sun will set, and the sun will rise. And every new day is an opportunity to practice our faith. The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is practice. 

To God's name be all the glory. Amen.

The Reverend Adrian. J. Pratt B.D.

ADVENT 3 "Prisoners, Preachers and Prophets"

  Readings: Psalm 146:5-10, Isaiah 35:1-10, James 5:7-10, Matthew 11:2-11 

Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, December 11 2022

Our reading today began with somebody on death row. Technically he is a political prisoner; the radical prophet whom we know as John the Baptist. He is sitting in darkness with his mind in overdrive. Throughout his life he had staked everything on the belief that Jesus, from Nazareth, was the promised liberator of his people. But now doubts are overwhelming.

The prophets who came before him had told of the Messiah that would come. The circumstances of the birth of both John and Jesus had created a situation where the events of the Messiah’s birth had started to become reality. John had leaped for joy in his mother’s womb, when his mother Elizabeth encountered Mary who was bearing the Christ child.

John was the one who had baptized Jesus in the River Jordan and heard that proclamation from heaven “This is my beloved Son.” John was the one who had exclaimed to Jesus… “You want me to baptize you? I’m the one who should be coming to you!” John was the one who had described his relationship to the Messiah along the lines of “I am hardly fit to untie his shoe-laces!”

John was the one who had initiated the religious movement that led many to come down to the waters of the Jordan to be baptized as he proclaimed, “Repent the Kingdom is near.” John, when he saw the Pharisees and Sadducees wanting to get in on the act had angered them by proclaiming "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance.” (Mat 3:7-8)

According to Luke, it is because of John’s criticism of Herod that he now lay in jail. “Herod the ruler, who had been rebuked by him because of Herodias, his brother's wife, and because of all the evil things that Herod had done, added to them all by shutting up John in prison.” (Luke 3:19-20).

Herodias had been Herod’s brother’s wife… and Herod had taken her for himself. While there were many who wanted John out of the way, and would have approved of his incarceration, declaring Herod’s actions were not the way for rulers (or anybody else) to behave, was the specific act which had landed John in jail.

You can imagine how he had his doubts as he lingered there. What could he do now? Hadn’t he done the right thing? How could his being imprisoned help the cause he had devoted his life to? He did not know that his end was near. That he would become a martyr for the cause of the Kingdom.

He sends a message to Jesus, asking a desperate question. "Are you the one?” Are you really the promised Messiah? Did I do the right thing placing all my hopes in you?

Jesus sends back messengers with these words; "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.  And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

John is told ‘The lame walk…’ ‘the lepers cleansed…’ The words are a quotation from the prophet Isaiah, Chapter 35. It’s part of a passage that is concerned with the restoration of Israel. It finishes with verse 10 “And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

When John heard those words surely, they would surely resonate deep down inside of him. He was being invited to look beyond his prison walls and see how God was working out God’s purposes through Jesus Christ. He was not forgotten. He was part of something so much greater than his current predicament.  Jesus tells the crowds about John. “Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist.”

Hopefully Jesus words to John blew away all his doubts. They were spoken to give him strength. To let him know that he had not been mistaken in telling people that God’s promised One had come and was at work in their midst. To remind him that he was fulfilling the words of preachers and prophets who had come before him. That he was at the center of God’s plans for God’s people.

Prisons are not just places made of stones, high walls and barbed wire. Many people though outwardly free are hemmed in by numerous things that keep them captive. Doubts. Fears. Addictions. Debts. Lifestyles. Shame. Grief. Regret. Sickness. People are still wondering, “Is Jesus really the One who can save us?”

What can the words of Jesus to John mean to us, as we head towards Christmas?

They call us to recognize that Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem’s stable, 

Truly is the Promised One of God!

Today we swim in a sea of ‘isms!’

•    Rationalism, the belief that we can work it all out with our minds and through scientific deduction
•    Skepticism, which doubts that is the case… indeed doubts anything is the case
•    Pragmatism suggests it doesn’t matter what we believe if it works for us.
•    Materialism, “He who has the most toys wins”;
•    Hedonism, “If it feels good do it”.  
•    Atheism, “There is no god”,
•    Agnosticism: “We can’t know if there is a god”;
•    Deism, “There is a God but don’t get excited because God has left the building”.

So, amongst all of that how can you know? When we are imprisoned by doubts and fears and worries what can get through to us? Listen again to what Jesus said.

"Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me."

I have been in ministry now for many moons and over the decades I have observed the impact the gospel can have upon peoples lives.

I’ve seen people who were blind, not physically, but blind to where their life is going. I’ve seen them be embraced by the grace of God and find a whole new way of seeing.

I’ve witnessed people, not whose way of walking was disabled, but who in almost the whole of their life had become lame and crippled. I’ve witnessed them be influenced by the gospel message in such a way as they now walk through their lives with a fixed purpose and a solid stride.

I’ve encountered people whose testimony is that they were complete outcasts, (‘lepers’ so to speak) to their families and friends, had been cut off, and despised, sometimes through their own actions, but then the light of Christ has broken through to them and it’s cleansed them of their shame, and they are on track to being whole again.

Since being in ministry I have observed  people who have ignored the Bible all their life, thinking it was just a bunch of outdated prejudicial mumbo-jumbo go through a crisis or some challenge to their way of being and, in that situation, they have turned to its ancient writings and found that God is speaking right into their situation in a way that has dramatically melted their hard hearts.

I have observed people who were on a road to nowhere but the emptiness of a cold, dark grave, being embraced by the life that is Jesus Christ and become such different people that you just can not believe they were ever in such bad shape.

There are many inspiring stories of folk, throughout the centuries, who have had their lives transformed by the gospel message. But maybe those examples are not where some of us have been in our lives. Or where some of us are. Not everybody has a Damascus road encounter like St Paul experienced.

Maybe we have simply been aware throughout our lives that, somehow God was with us and watching over us. We have sought to be faithful in the way we live our lives, and we can’t really remember a time when we felt totally outside of God’s love. But when things haven’t gone the way we expected, for sure we have had our questions.

Disappointment and failure, or even just the daily grind of every day being the same, can get to us. We may not adopt some other belief or become atheists or deists or follow any other “ism” that the social scientists can come up with. But we all have days when we question if “faith in Jesus” is really what can get us through.

John sat in a prison cell and asked “Jesus, are you really the one who can save us?” I’m here to declare that Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem’s stable, truly is the promised one of God.  I’ve seen the way His love changes lives today!

I’m here to say whatever we are going through, wherever our lives are right now, whatever we may be facing, God is there for us. I’m here to say that “The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.”

And I invite us all to place our life into Gods hands. To come with all our doubts and misapprehensions and hear some good news. Jesus Christ IS the Savior! His love CAN be born into the midst of our life circumstances.

I’ve witnessed many times way the work of God’s Holy Spirit can shine the kind of light that adds a new dimension to our daily living. I am aware that I am who I am, and where I am in my life right now, entirely by the grace and goodness of God.

I believe we can all have that sort of assurance, that we are God’s children, and that God is with us. That’s what John needed to hear in his prison cell. That’s we need to hear as we navigate what being a 21st century disciple is all about. And it’s all because of events that took place in a stable in Bethlehem all those years ago. The events to which Advent is but a prelude.

Believe it.
Listen to the songs of the angels.
Jesus Christ is the Savior.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Amen!

The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.

Advent 2 "Stumps and Shoots"

COMMUNION SERVICE
Readings: Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19 , Isaiah 11:1-5; Romans 15:4-13,  Matthew 3:1-12
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, December 4, 2022

In Chartes Cathedral in France is a beautiful and unique stained-glass window dating back to the thirteenth century. Known as ‘The Tree of Jesse’ it is based on the genealogy of Jesus that appears in Matthew’s gospel, tracing His family tree from King David’s Father (Jesse) to his birth in Bethlehem. At the base of the window is a picture of Jesse with a tree sprouting from his body. At the top of the window is Jesus, the generations of his descendants lining the branches.

Our Old Testament reading gave us this messianic verse;- “Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit.” The description of Jesus being from the root of Jesse, or the root of David appears a number of times in the New Testament. (Romans 15:12, Rev 5:5, 22:16).

Jesse had an important part to play in the history of Israel. He fathered eight sons at a time when Israel was going through great changes.  It was a time in history when they had moved from being a nation governed by priests and judges and had instituted a monarchy; the first ever King in Israel being King Saul.

But all was not well. King Saul had not turned out to be a King who always had the things of God in mind. Though he had many positive qualities, in some significant areas he was sadly lacking. A new King would be anointed, a newly chosen one, and it turned out to be Jesse’s youngest son, David.

You may recall the bible story of the prophet Samuel coming to Jesse and lining up his sons one by one, but each son receiving the thumbs down from the prophet because they were not the one God had chosen. Then David, who had been left out in the fields to take care of the sheep was sent for, and he turned out to be the one on whom God’s favor rested.

There was considerable conflict before he ever ascended to the monarchy, family jealousies and giants to be overcome, but when he did, Israel enjoyed a time of prosperity never seen before or since.

By the time Jesus was born, such a time was a distant memory. The Romans were the dominant power. Israel was fragmented and without a cohesive political or religious system to hold them together. They still had a king and priests and a palace and a temple, but it was a mere shadow of the glory that had been around when David, the son of Jesse, had reigned in Israel.

Then appeared, on the banks of the Jordan, a prophet, like the prophets of old, with a stern, yet inspiring, message to the people. His name was John, the original  Baptist, who called people to repent for the Kingdom of God was at hand; to turn around because God was doing something new and unexpected. From the dry stump of the Israelites ancient religion, a new, green shoot was rising up and it would grow to be a strong and powerful branch whose glory would be greater than that of the tree from which it came forth.

That image of Jesus rising up from the dying stump of Judaism is captured in the words of this 15th Century Advent hymn;

“Lo, how a rose e’er blooming, from tender stem have sprung,
Of Jesus lineage coming, as men of old have sung...,

Isaiah twas foretold it, the rose I have in mind...,”

That ‘Rose’ of course was Jesus Christ.

As we look forward to celebrating Christs birth, let’s explore Isaiah 11:1;
“There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.”
 (Revised Standard Version).

The Stump

The gospel authors were keen to include all those lists of names and genealogies in their Good News.  Like a great tree that had been cut down so that only the stump remained, at the time of writing, the ancestry of Jesus represented in David and his father Jesse had been reduced to obscurity and insignificance.  

It was important for people to understand, that though Christ was born in the poorest of circumstances, in a little-known town, in a distant corner of the Roman Empire, He was the inheritor of great promises. His life was intimately tied into the work that God had been doing since the dawn of Creation. His roots were deep in the salvation history of Israel, a history that her own people had forgotten and abandoned. From out of that stump, from that forgotten root, would come hope for the world.

There is nothing particularly attractive about a stump. It is all that remains of a once proud and lofty tree that has been cut down.  Sometimes they become covered with ivy so you can’t really see them, If you have one in your yard it can function as something to put a potted plant on. They don’t look good, just left bare, sitting there without a purpose.  People tend to either uproot stumps altogether or to cover them up.

You know we’ve all met people who can identify with the stump.  Life has cut them down and so they either try to cover up the hurt or just let others use them.  They feel all beauty, all sense of attractiveness has gone from them.  But why just talk about other people?  What about ourselves?

We all involve ourselves in ways of thinking and being and doing, that stunt our growth in the grace and love of Jesus Christ.  We have all been at some time or other cut down by what life has thrown at us; bad experiences, stupid actions we later regret, unkind words, misunderstandings.  As scripture describes our situation, We are all sinners who fall short of the Glory of God. There are so many things about being human that cut us down to size.

It’s not possible to uproot and move on, because our roots run so deep.  We cling to what we have, because whilst it isn’t all that it could be, it’s all that we’ve got and all that we are.  To prevent our sinfulness being revealed we have numerous mechanisms for covering up, ranging from religion to role playing.

That’s one reason why John the Baptist got so mad at the Pharisees and their like.  They were stunted, stumped people acting like Cedar Trees looking down on everyone else. They needed to acknowledge their real selves. Hear John’s blistering words in Matthew 3:10 “And the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire”.  Better, it seems, to recognize your own faults than be cut down for them!

The great Advent hope in this verse?
Out of stumps can spring fresh shoots that grow into strong branches.

The Shoots

Because Jesus came to us, our stunted lives can blossom with fresh shoots that cause us to grow and become strong. That can cause us to rise up and stand tall.

Jesse was a regular guy, a farmer, living his life as best as he could.  He never expected that God would bless his family in the way that history has revealed.  He never dreamed that to his family line would be born the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Yet we read,

Isaiah 11:1;
“There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.”

This Verse has 3 applications.

a) It applies to Jesus.
He is  one this  prophecy refers to. He is the one who came from the root of Jesse.  He is the one on whom the Spirit rested mightily and whose life was filled with wisdom and understanding, with knowledge and an awesome appreciation of His Father God.

b) It can be applied to us.
We are the ones who are stunted and often stumped.  We are the ones that life has cut down to size.  We are the ones with low expectations and who feel frustrated and unfulfilled. Through the Grace Christ offers, we can build something new.  Through the love of God, we learn to love others and allow ourselves to be loved.

Under the living touch of the Holy Spirit, whatever is lost can be saved, whatever has died can be reborn, whatever has been bankrupted can be redeemed, whatever has been cut down can sprout with new, tender, green shoots that grow into strong branches.

c) It applies to God’s Church.
Isaiah’s words were addressed to a community of faith.  Churches, like people, can become stunted and stumped.  But if their roots are in Christ, then new shoots can spring out in all directions.  

Being an active member of your church is not an obligation, it’s a privilege.  God places God's children in families of faith, so that they can grow, so that they can be nurtured and together bring the things of Christ's Kingdom to people who need some good news in their lives.

Conclusions

Jesus loved the unlovely. God looks at the stump and says, “I can see shoots coming out of that thing, I can make that branch grow, I can work with this, just give me some room!” That’s what Advent is about.  Making room in our lives for the love of Christ. Preparing to receive the message of Christmas in such a way as it changes the way we live.  

This image of the Jesse tree is a wonderful reminder that the story neither began with us nor will end with us. The family line of Jesse led to the birth of Jesus. On the branches are pictured many characters whose stories we often forget and may never learn.

As we break bread and share wine, we are taking part in something the church has been doing ever since Jesus first invited His followers to remember Him in this way. It is an opportunity, as John the Baptist suggested, to turn around and get our lives back on the right track. To consider the legacy we will leave to those who come after us.

We can be stumped. We can be stunted. Yet under the touch of God's Spirit, when we place ourselves in God's hands, new life can blossom. And our lives can be branches that bear good fruit for the Kingdom, to the glory of God! Amen.

The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.

Advent 1 "Feasting on Hope"

Readings: Psalm 122, Isaiah 2:1-5; Romans 13-11-14, Matthew 24:36-44
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, November 27, 2022

Having feasted on good food for Thanksgiving and looking forward to feasting again at Christmas time, I invite you this morning to feast on hope as we worship God together.
 
The particular hope that our lectionary readings point us to today is the hope of God’s Coming Kingdom. This includes the hope of Isaiah’s vision when God shall “Judge among the nations: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” The hopes of a world where the living Christ is given His rightful reign in people’s lives and darkness will be abolished by the light of His glorious presence.

• Isaiah visualizes a Kingdom where the ways of God will be lifted high and justice be restored to all, in such a way as there will no longer be cause for war among the nations.
• Paul calls his Roman readers to wake up and change their ways of living, because God's salvation was just around the corner.  
• Matthew’s gospel tells us that the day of the Lord will arrive unexpectedly, like a thief in the night, and cautions us to be ready for the kingdom to come.

Each reading has wonderful images of hope to feast upon

First of all feast on Isaiah’s vision.

Things Isaiah spoke of had a habit of coming to pass.  Some of his visions had to do with the immediate future of the life of Israel.  Others foretold of Christ.  Other visions concerned the distant future of all the world.

He tells us that the day will come when God’s rule towers above all other principalities and powers. The instruction of God will be the highest power of all. People from all around will want to know God’s direction in their lives.  He tells us that justice and righteousness will be restored, that war will be at an end and that nationalism will be no longer a cause to fight about.

This fills me with hope.  For at the present time God is dethroned from many people’s lives. At the present time many are not looking to God for direction. At the present time people are ready for war at the drop of a hat. At the present time our world is a place of injustice and unrest.  It is good to know that these things will not always be so.

Armed with this hope every time I see someone opening their lives a little more to the love of God, every time I hear of an initiative towards peace, every time some injustice is put right, we hear a whisper of greater things to come. “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

Such is also a tremendous incentive for us to be involved in initiatives to create a fairer and more justice world in the present. To work towards the fulfillment of the glorious vision of peace and justice that Isaiah proclaims. To support all those efforts that feed the hungry, bring good news to the poor and bring light to those held captive in the darkness.

Such  actions are not of this world but carry the trademark of God’s Kingdom. Whenever we commit ourselves to change, we are declaring ‘The Kingdom IS coming.’  Maybe as Bob Dylan said in one of his songs, it is “A slow train coming,” but every now and again you can hear a distant rumbling on the tracks. The glorious hope in this passage from Isaiah is the knowledge that one day all will be well. That our efforts make a difference.

Secondly, Feast on Pauls wake up call

Not only shall all be well in the wider world, but there will also come a time when all will be well with our own lives. Those Paul wrote to in Rome were surrounded by all sorts of ungodliness and subject to all the problems that being sinful human beings’ places upon us.

Although they had converted to Christianity, they still struggled to truly live a Christian life.  They often found themselves paying more attention to bodily appetites than to their spiritual diet.  From what Paul tells us they had a battle going on in the area of self-control. Some struggled with alcohol abuse. Some had no control of their sexual lives.

Some were argumentative and couldn’t control their words.  Others were consumed with jealousy. Some just couldn’t resist a chance to party the night away. You’d think he was writing to guests on the Jerry Springer show, not the members of First Presbyterian Church in Rome!

Take heart from this passage. From the raw material of imperfect human lives God builds the church. Never despair of yourself or of others. Be hopeful. If at times you feel your life is about as far from being holy as it could be, realize you have friends in high places and low places! If at times temptation wins, well, you’re not the first and you won’t be the last to lose a battle with temptation.  Put your hope in God. Listen for God's alarm bells and wake up calls and respond to them.

Thirdly, Feast on the unpredictability of it all

Many times, the return of Christ is presented to us in terms of cold analysis and as though it were a doom-laden fact. At various times across the Christian centuries there have been groups of folks convinced that their generation was the last and that Christ was coming especially for them, right then and right there to rescue them from the evil world around them.

Such certainty of instant redemption obscures for us the really important element of Jesus teaching. The motif of surprise. There is a glorious sense of tension in Jesus words. On the one hand He tells us get ready, the Son of Man is coming, like a thief in the night, one will be taken, one will be left behind.  But on the other hand, He tells us, “Well if you think you know when all this is going to be going on, you are completely and totally wrong”. “The Son of man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will” (Matthew 24:44).

So rather than speculate about dates and times, I suggest we interpret our passage from Matthew in this way. “Always leave room in your life for God’s surprises.” Never close your soul to the unpredictable nature of God’s love. Never let your Christian life become a humdrum routine affair that leaves God’s Spirit no room to move.  Never think that God is through with you or that you have reached the end of the road in your spiritual journey or that there is not more you can do to bring about change in our world.

As our lives go through their different seasons there comes times when we can no longer serve as we would wish. This element of surprise is an incentive for us to seize the day. To do what we can with what we have while we still have the opportunity to do so.

As we move through Advent towards Christmas it is worth reflecting why Jesus was born and the nature of the mission He pursued. When invited to preach His first sermon in Nazareth he unrolled a scroll containing the words of Isaiah and proclaimed: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)

Whenever we work towards such aims, we are working with Christ, surprising the world with His presence and spreading His hope where it is desperately needed. As we do so, we find our own lives are challenged and changed. We are called to not only believe in the coming of the Kingdom God, that great vision of Isaiah, but also to work towards making God’s Kingdom a present reality.

Today we can hope to have our broken lives renewed through God’s Holy Spirit.
Today hope can spring eternal and life be made new.
Today we can look forward in hope to the coming of God’s Promised Kingdom.
Today we look forward in Advent hope.
Today we can recommit our lives to being carriers of the hope of Jesus Christ.
Praise God!
Every worship service is truly an opportunity for feasting on hope.
Amen.

The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.

“Harvest of kindness”

 HARVEST/CHRIST THE KING SUNDAY
Readings:  Jeremiah 23:1-6, Colossians 1:11-20, Matthew 5:43-48, Psalm 8:1-9
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, on November 20, 2022

“What are human beings that You are mindful of them, mortals that You care for them?
Yet You have made them a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor.”
(Psalm 8:4-5 NRS)

On this Harvest Sunday my thoughts were directed to this text from the Book of Psalms. It talks about many things, God’s care for us and our world and our responsibility to care for each other. Most of all it suggested to me the importance of kindness, a reoccurring theme in the Old Testament. Today I would like to offer you three thoughts.

1.    Be kind to yourself and reap a harvest of contentedness
2.    Be kind to each other and reap a harvest of community
3.    Be kind to the earth and you will be rewarded with abundance.

Be kind to yourself and reap a harvest of contentedness

How we see ourselves is directly related to the contentment we find in our lives. Contentment is not dependent on how life treats us, but how we treat the things life brings our way. Some days it brings sunshine, some days it brings the storm, sometimes much is given, sometimes much is taken away. And while to a certain extent we have control over our destinies, that control is never absolute.

I grew up listening to song by a group called Fairport Convention, who on their 1973 album titled simply “Nine” had a tune with the chorus, “Pleasure and pain is like a profit and gain, Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, Be kind to yourself when you’re tired of yourself, Don’t go mixing the reds along with the blues.” For sure, life offers us a mixed palette of experience!

Yet for a Christian person contentment comes not so much from who we think we are, but from whom God’s Word says that we are. The scriptures talk about mindfulness. Not the sort of mindfulness that we are encouraged to practice by health professionals but knowing that God has us always in mind.

“What are human beings” asks the Psalmist, “That You (God) are mindful of them? “The verse continues “Mortals that You care for them?” This thought that God cares for all of us and has things in mind for all of us, can be a tremendously empowering thought if we embrace it with our lives! We are somebody, not because of what we have achieved in life, or because of who are family may be, or the car we drive or the place we live, our value is tied up with the fact that God, has us, in mind.

In the church calendar today is Christ the King Sunday. If Christ is King, and we are sisters and brothers in Christ, then through faith in the King, that makes us royalty. Verse 5 enforces this fanciful idea “You have made them a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor.” Only royalty get to wear crowns.

One royal follower of Jesus, the apostle Paul writes to the church in Phillipi “I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret … I can do all things through Him who strengthens me”. (Philippians 4:11-13 NRS)

God has things in mind for our lives. God knows what we are going through. God wants to help. In Christ we are sisters and brothers of the Servant King who gave His life that nothing can separate us from God’s love. Jesus Christ is the source of Christian contentment. Seeing our lives through God’s eyes, can be our source of peace. So, I say, be kind to yourself, focus on Christ and reap a harvest of contentedness. But this royalty thing? Don’t let it go to your head…

Be kind to each other and reap a harvest of community

Before her passing in September this year the Queen of England celebrated 70 years on throne. She proved herself to be a lady of Christian faith and her life was defined by the sense of duty that she felt her high office had called her to. Over the centuries before (and continuing during) her rule she saw the once vast British empire, that it was claimed covered a quarter of the world’s inhabitants, crumble and shrink.

Yet during her reign she has managed to create, from the ashes of that experience, a ‘Commonwealth’ of nations who have come together, not out of coercion, but by choice. Some of whom had rejected all ties of empire, some who were never a part of it.

Isn’t that what a Christian community is supposed to be? A place we share our ‘common-wealth’? A place we bring our gifts of time, talent and treasure and become mutually enriched? We read in the Book of Acts what happened right after Pentecost was that the believers gathered, shared together, brought who they were and what they could offer to the table.

But for a community to grow, it takes kindness. Looking to each other’s interests as much as to our own. Even as Paul suggests, in humility counting others as better than ourselves. And the church is a peculiar kind of community, because we don’t get to choose who is a part of it. At least, that is how Scripture tells us it should be. The church is a community God has called together, so they can demonstrate to the world what living together in Jesus name can look like.

Not so sure we do such a good job of that! The fact that there are more denominations and splinter groups and groups who claim to be independent form the rest of the Christian church because only they have the truth… isn’t exactly testimony to the notion ‘See how these Christians love one another.' But that does not mean we should give up trying to do those things that God calls us to!

Sowing seeds of kindness towards each other can still reap a harvest of community. And the stronger our community of faith becomes, then the further we can be enabled to reach out to the community around us with the gospel message.

We have a mission. And that mission focuses on the ability of Jesus Christ to turn people’s lives around. I fear we often forget that He is the center, not this program or that initiative, but we are called to proclaim Christ, and Him crucified, and risen from the grave and in the power of His Holy Spirit able to bring about radical change to a person’s life.

A football coach ensures their team take time to gather. They may even huddle up in the changing room, to psyche each other up. ‘Go Team!” But they are never going to win a single game unless they put all they have onto the field of play. We can huddle up and pray in our church services, but we also need to get out into the field of the world and sow those seeds of kindness if any kind of harvest is going to be seen.      

Be kind to yourself and reap a harvest of contentedness.
Be kind to each other and reap a harvest of community.

Be kind to the earth and you will be rewarded with abundance

We have signs of God’s abundance all around us today.  In Scripture Adam and Eve’s first job is as gardeners caring for Creation. Their misuse of their freedom made that task a harder task to deal with than they had ever imagined. We should learn from that. Care of Creation has been our stewardship mandate since time began.

The Old Testament laws are full of provisions that suggest the land, as well the people, needed time for Sabbath, for rest, recuperation, and renewal. Sadly, in our greed, we somehow gloss over those passages. It’s not complicated. Be kind to the earth and we will be rewarded with abundance Abuse the resources at hand and we will be in trouble. Just like happened in the first garden of Eden.

And this text “What are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them” takes us right back to the original Creation. It is just as well I had nothing to do with the creation story because my reaction would have been to see that humanity went as extinct as the dinosaur’s way before the present day.

The damage we do to our planet, to each other, to the creatures we share the planet with. Our warring madness, our inability to see each other as people of infinite value, our greed, our mindless schemes, our  abuse and neglect of things we should cherish. Our prejudice and violence and inability to simply get along. What a mess.

How do we take steps to change all of that? Through kindness. Through doing the little things that make a big difference. Through being mindful that we can make a difference if we keep sowing positive seeds of acceptance, peace and most of all love. There can only be a harvest of kindness if we keep sowing seeds of kindness. As the graphic at the top of the page suggests: “Plant Kindness, Harvest Love.”

So today, I sow these three seed thoughts into your lives and I pray, as I pray every time I am given the privilege of occupying a pulpit, there will be some sort of harvest as a result.

•    Be kind to yourself and reap a harvest of contentedness.
•    Be kind to each other and reap a harvest of community.
•    Be kind to the earth and you will be rewarded with abundance.

Psalm 8:4-5  “What are human beings that You are mindful of them, mortals that You care for them?
Yet You have made them a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor.”

To God Be All Glory!
AMEN

"The Living Difference"

Readings: Psalm 98, Exodus 3:1-6, 2 Thessalonians. 1-5,13-17, Luke 20:27-38
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, 6th November 2022

Some Mormons believe that if you are a faithful Mormon then after you die you are resurrected to the third or celestial heaven, where you are given a kingdom for yourself and your family. There you will rule, as a god like being whilst you populate a separate planet of your own.

One form of Islamic belief is that heaven is filled with earthly pleasures, a paradise of sensual delights. Other belief systems suggest that when you die you are sent back again to this earth, maybe as a human or maybe as an animal.  Still others see life as circle that only reaches its end once the soul has achieved a sense of oneness with Creation.

For sure these questions of eternity and after-life have vexed many minds over many centuries. In Jesus day there were Pharisees and teachers of the Law and Essene's and Herodians and Greeks and Romans, all of who had very different ideas about what happened after death. And amongst them there were also the Sadducee's. The Sadducee's did not believe in Resurrection. As the joke goes… that’s why they were ‘Sad –You - See.’

They believed in the Scriptures, but only the 5 books of Moses, that form the first 5 books of our Old Testament.  They figured that once God had given the commandments, everything else was unnecessary. Just get back to the ‘true’ bible and things will change.  One thing they were convinced that their bible didn’t teach was that there would be any kind of resurrection from the dead for those who believed.

The Sadducee's saw Pharisees as overburdened with laws and far too sure that they alone knew the purpose of God. They saw the temple authorities as tied up with the politics and ceremony of the day.  They saw the common people as… well…‘common.’ They didn’t like Jesus.  His popularity was a threat to their respectful position and His teaching about God seemed, to them, dangerous.

So, they come to Jesus with a trick question about marriage.  According to the Levitical law in Deuteronomy 25:5 (one of the books they did believe in) if a man died childless, his brother must marry the widow and beget children to carry on the family line.

‘O.K Rabbi’, they say, ‘answer us this one.’ This guy marries a girl, dies, so, as the law says, his brother marries her, then he dies and so and so on right through all the brothers.” “If there is a resurrection” they challenge, “Whose wife will she be in the after-life?”

Jesus, as He often did, turned the question around and left them with more questions than answers. In the first part of His answer Jesus cautions the Sadducee's not to think of heavenly things from an earthly perspective.  Constructing imaginary scenarios and trying to logically think of what heaven may be like, on the basis of the life they were experiencing on earth, was doomed to failure.

We too can construct heaven in our imaginations, heavens based on our likes and dislikes. Do we really want to sit on a fluffy white cloud, strumming a harp in the company of overfed cherubs and anemic looking angels? There must be more to it than that! Jesus throws some powerful word pictures our way. He firstly, no doubt in response to their question, plays with the idea of marriage.   

Marriage, He explains, is something that belongs to this life on this earth. People marry, people re-marry and God can sort all of that out on the other side. God will honor our relationships. When somebody passes away, we often talk about there being a glorious reunion in the afterlife. That’s part of our Christian hope. To dismiss thoughts of resurrection, on the grounds that we can’t figure out exactly how the reunion is going to work out, is like refusing to go to the most wonderful party ever thrown, because we are not sure who else is going to be there.

Marriage, as Scripture elsewhere affirms, is a high and holy calling; relationships between husband and wife are a reflection of the relationship of Christ to the church.  But only a reflection.

Relationships in the heavenlies are to be more beautiful, more committed, with greater depth and intimacy than anything we may experience on earth.  To predict how those relationships will be on the basis of the too-ings and fro-ings of earthly encounters Jesus suggests was just plain wrong.

Not only was marriage not going to be happening in heaven, but neither was death. Verse 29 ‘for they cannot die anymore.’ The same would apply to the bearing of children. There will also be no more tears and no more pain, for the former things have passed away.

Jesus scolds the Sadducee's for their lack of appreciation that life on earth was not life in heaven and suggests that they were indeed foolish if they thought they could work the one out one the basis of the other.  But He doesn’t leave it there. He also takes issue with them on their understanding of the Scripture.

He doesn’t take issue with the fact that they only thought the first five books of Moses were Scripture’s worth taking note of, rather that they hadn’t grasped the significance of even what was contained in those first five books. They claim that in those Scriptures there was no reference to any kind of resurrection.

Jesus takes them on a bible study in the Book of Exodus, the passage about Moses and the burning bush.  In the passage, Jesus points out that Moses calls God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It was impossible that God should be the God of the dead. Therefore, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob must be the living. God was God of the living! So, there was such a thing as the resurrection. Their own Scriptures said it was so. The Sadducee's are both confused and silenced by this answer.

At the end of the day the Sadducee's were left looking foolish because they thought they knew more about the Scriptures than Jesus did.  They argued about the concept of resurrection with somebody who was about to exemplify for all time and all people the real thing.

For ourselves, who profess Jesus Christ as Savior, we do well to hear His perspective on the afterlife. He assures us that if we put our faith and trust in Him, then something immeasurably worthwhile, indescribably wonderful, awesome, majestic, beyond anything earthly words, pictures or thoughts can adequately describe, is awaiting us on the other side.

Jesus uses an enigmatic phrase; ‘sons of the resurrection’ to describe those who seek to make their ultimate destination God’s Kingdom.  I like that phrase. Let it sing through your mind a little. ‘Sons and daughters of the resurrection’ Imagine jumping out of bed in the morning with that attitude coloring your day. Imagine living every day with resurrection in mind.

“I am a resurrection person.  The things I do today are not confined by the boundaries of death, decay, and time.

I am a resurrection person. The life which I will live today is part of a life that will never be diminished. The things I do today are making a mark, not only on the passing things of this life but in eternity.

I am a resurrection person. Though I may face defeats, God will turn them to victories, though I may face failures, God will use them to build my character, though I may face darkness, God will lead me with God’s light, though I may face suffering, God will heal all my infirmities in God’s good time.

I am a resurrection person.  Every moment in time that ticks by, bringing age and eventually death is but a glorious moment that is bringing me closer to my final destiny, my eternal home, my heavenly mansion, my Father’s house.

I am a resurrection person, I am an Easter person and Hallelujah is my song!”

The Sadducee's came to Jesus with a question designed to catch Him out. Their idea was that whatever He said it would be an answer that cast Him in a negative light. But Jesus turned things around by recalling them to the deeper meaning of Scripture. That God was, and is, and always will be, the God of the living.

In John 10:10 Jesus speaks to the crowds and tells them, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” In the face of those who would steal away a resurrection perspective from our lives, we are encouraged to focus on Scripture and discover for ourselves the quality of life that Jesus would have us live.  

Abundant life. Life that recognizes resurrection power as something not just for tomorrow, but that energizes our lives today. A life that is framed by a perspective that life is a journey from before the womb to beyond the tomb. Spirit life that is lived in a way that makes all our tomorrows a better place to be.

Belief in resurrection makes a difference.  A living difference to every moment you live on earth. Just occasionally the awareness of that glorious Kingdom does seep through to us.  Don’t fight it.  Embrace it. Listen to Jesus. Keep learning what His Words teach us. Trust in God, that in God’s hands, saved by grace, through faith, you’re safe.

So come to this table laid with bread and wine. Were they not bathed in resurrection light these elements would speak only of tragedy. But because Christ is Risen, “He is risen indeed” and this celebration can make a living difference to our everyday walk with God.

My life is not framed by the passing moments of each day
but I live out my days in the presence of the eternal love of God.
In life and death I belong to God.
“I am a resurrection person, I am an Easter person and Hallelujah is my song!”

I invite us all to receive these elements in the faith of the living Jesus.
And to God be the glory.
Amen.

The Reverend Adrian J Pratt B.D.

"Get out of that Tree!"

Readings: Psalm 119:137-144, Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4, 2 Thess. 1:1-4, 11-12, Luke 19:1-10
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, on October 30, 2022

Something about being a kid makes you view trees as things that need to be climbed. I know I did. Even had a little den – a tree-house – in the old tree at the back of my parent’s house. It was a good place to be – particularly if there were jobs needed doing and you weren’t inclined to do them right then. You couldn’t stay up there forever. The inevitable would catch up and some one would be hollering, “Get out of that tree!”

Our Bible reading gave us the story of another little tree climber - a man named Zacchaeus. He’s described as having made a healthy income for himself, being short of stature and engaged in the profession of tax-collector.

There were all sorts of reasons why he could have been up the tree. Tax collectors weren’t the most popular people in Israelite society.  Maybe he was up there trying to stay out of people’s way. He also had a bit of money, so maybe being up a tree kept him out of the way from pick-pockets and other petty thieves that crowds tend to attract.

Or maybe it was just because he was short and couldn’t see what was going on. Luke tells us that he had run on ahead of the crowds when he had seen that Jesus was coming to town in order to get a good view of all that was taking place. Luke doesn’t tell us why he wanted to see Jesus or what had so stirred Zaccheaus that he felt the need to be mingling with the folk on the streets. For sure though there was something about Jesus that had gained his attention. The last thing he had expected was to gain Jesus attention.

That’s what happens. Jesus comes by and shouts, “Get out of that tree!” Or rather He says, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today." And Zaccheaus climbs down and is overjoyed to offer Jesus hospitality.  The mere fact that Jesus has taken the time to recognize him and calls out his name is enough to bring about a radical change in the little man’s life. He’s a little man with a big heart.

"Look”, he tells Jesus “Half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much." Having encountered the love of Christ, life could not just carry on as it had done before. He was making some changes – changes for the better.

It’s not just kids who hide up trees. Zaccheaus wasn’t a kid. But he was hiding up a tree. It makes me ask, “What sort of trees are we hiding in? What trees do we need to come down from if we are going to be disciples of Jesus? What’s our tree?”

I know that we all have our own systems for coping with life. We all have our own views about what’s important and why we’re on this planet and what’s right and what’s wrong. And most of the time, these ideas about life – these ‘trees’ that we hide in are comfortable places to be.

Now I can’t tell you exactly what your tree is. But I can make some generalizations. It’s the place you go to ignore the genuine challenges of the world around you. It’s a place where you can shut out the voices of the crowd and do what seems right in your own eyes. It’s a place where you feel comfortable about yourself – even when there are things about your life that should make you uncomfortable.

Some trees are more obvious than others. Some have a well-stocked bar whose alcoholic content is the main thing that gets them through the day. Some have other forms of escape. Some trees are built out of harsh words and criticism towards those who are not the same or don’t share their ideas of right and wrong. Some of us are very selective about who we allow in our tree-houses.

Zaccheaus was doing all right. He had his circle of friends. He knew his place in the scheme of things and hoped others knew theirs. He kept his distance when he had to. It wasn’t his fault that the poor were poor. Yes, he cut a few moral corners now and then, but didn’t everybody? There were worse people than him about – why should he feel bad about himself?

Then Jesus comes along. He already knew that there was something different about Jesus. When people allowed Him to get to them strange things would happen. Healings. Miracles. Changed lives. He really didn’t seem to care what anybody else thought of Him. He wasn’t afraid to speak in harsh judgment to those who gave the impression of being righteous. He seemed to have unlimited time to share with the most insignificant of people. Then… there was Jesus, calling his name, saying… Zacchaeus “Get down out of that tree’.

It must have taken more than a bit of courage to come down. Why was Jesus calling him? Was he going to make an example of him before the crowds? Was it to humiliate him? Was it because he had money? Was it because he’d cheated people? No…. the look on Jesus face was not one of condemnation, but of acceptance.

It was a look Zacchaeus hadn’t seen for a long time. An look of acceptance. The people, even as he climbs down, are singing their usual tune. "He’s a sinner!" Jesus was crossing a barrier of ritual purity. A tax collector was considered unclean because he entered houses and inspected goods in a way unacceptable to Jewish law.

By entering Zacchaeus’s house, Jesus was acknowledging the chief tax collector’s dignity and worth. Jesus, who was being followed by the crowds, would have brought honor to whatever house He entered. He conferred a special honor on Zacchaeus by offering to receive hospitality from him.

Zaccheaus is delighted to receive Jesus. For sure it would mean some changes. If Jesus was prepared to take him just as he was, then it was only right that he should start living like he was somebody important to God.

Through this story Jesus is calling “Get out of that Tree”. As I say, I don’t know what sort of tree you are hiding out in, or exactly what it means for you to get out of that place and move on towards a better place. 

But I do know that all of us are sinners who fall short of the glory of God. That we all have defense mechanisms against whole hearted commitment to loving God - with all that we are - and loving others as much as we love ourselves. I know that doesn’t come easy – or without a price to pay.

But thank God – Jesus has paid the price. He calls us to come down, not in condemnation – but in acceptance. The Good News is not – “Clean up your life so that you may be acceptable to God” but, “Hey – God loves you and accepts you. Today God is calling your name.  Today God is challenging you to move forward. Now is the hour of salvation!”

If you’re in one of those moods where you feel like “Well, nothing good ever comes my way”, or “Nothing amazing happens in my church” or “Why can’t this be this or that be that” – then get down out of that tree. That tree of self-pity – or that tree of disillusionment – or that tree of rebellion - or that tree of self-satisfaction – or that tree that’s covered in green leaves but is actually dieing on the inside – that tree of confusion or disbelief or self-condemnation or fear or anxiety.

Come down from that tree! Jesus wants to come to your house. He’s calling your name. He wants to share a feast with you. Today He wants to honor your life with His presence – today. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” (Revelation 3:20).

Sure we can stay in our tree house. We can pretend not to hear. We can act like the name being called wasn’t ours but some other with the same name. But winter’s coming. Being stuck up in a tree when the rains start to fall can leave you pretty miserable. If the winds start to blow, your whole tree might come crashing down. There’s more to life than living in trees.

Our story concludes with Jesus saying, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost." May salvation come to our lives and our homes today, because – today – we have heard Jesus calling our name and promising that as we open our lives to the influence of the Holy Spirit, it’s not going to be just more of the same, but new life in Jesus name.

Let us move forward into the future aware of God’s desire to walk with us, to feast with us and share in all that it may bring. Let us allow God to work the changes in us that are a result of God’s acceptance of us. Let us seek to live as God’s people, simply because that’s who God calls us, by name, to be! 

“Get out of that tree” to the glory of God. 

AMEN!                         

The Reverend Adrian J Pratt B.D.