Eschatological Being

Eschatological Being
Vertical Particularity meets Horizontal Universalities

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Finishing the Course


As I have referenced before, for many years I was a competitive sailboat racer. And for a large part of those years I crewed for a single skipper, who along with his wife became good friends of Grady and me. Bill and I raced up and down the southeast coast and traveled each year to the National championships, where although we never one, were always in the top third of the championship group, often taking home some silver.

And it was a joy racing with Bill because after a while we could anticipate each other moves around the race course. I knew to automatically change the sails as Bill would point the boat up or down, and we could tack in perfect synchronicity as we went around the race course. And because we didn’t have to think about what we were doing, it gave us a lot of time to discuss strategy on how we were going to finish the race course.


When Grady and I moved to Florida, I still raced with Bill for another year, but it was apparent that he would need to find a new crew, and I a new skipper. So through some friends I did find a new skipper living in Melbourne. We met and got along fine, so we decided to try to race together. That first regatta, was a mess for both of us. We were sailing out of Melbourne, and luckily the weather was fine. But we couldn’t get our efforts synchronized. He assumed that when he changed course, that I would pull in the sail to a certain point, but I assumed the exact opposite. Poor Bob almost did make it that regatta, I will never forget when I beaned him in the head with the spinnaker pole because he was not standing where Bill always stood!


The next regatta was in Sarasota and when we got there, early Saturday morning it was blowing stink. Which means that the winds were ripping! It was one of those kind of days, that even getting the small 21 foot boat launched in the water was difficult. And the minute the sails went up you could not hear above the roar of the flapping wind and you would just have to take off, white knuckled and pray that you wouldn’t capsize. It was a kind of wind that I loved racing with Bill in. When you are perfectly synchronized it can be a true test of skill and knowledge to finish the course without capsizing or seriously injuring yourself.


But that day, I wanted no part of racing, because I knew that my new skipper and I were not yet practiced enough together to weather such a challenge. I truly doubted that we could make it around the course, even though both of us had done it before in similar winds with different people.


None the less, we did it. Bob threw me a life jacket and off we went. Was it scary? You bet? Did we almost not finish? Several times – but we did. Were we as competitive as before? No, but there was hope that the two of us would come to get to know each other well enough that soon we would be in competitive racing form. And by Sunday, as we pulled the boat out of the water, we were satisfied with our efforts and for finishing the course.


Now I start with this story because Paul in our scripture reading today, is worried about the Ephesians finishing the course. Paul has been with the Ephesians for 3 years and Luke tells us that many miracles and healings were done by Paul, in the name of Christ. Even in the midst of quite a few challenges , Paul’s ministry amongst the Ephesians was probably the most productive seasons of his ministry in any other place and time, and the hope, probably of both Paul and the Ephesians was that Paul would remain there for a long time, using Ephesus as kind of a base for his missionary work in the area.


But then God steps in, in that pesky way that God has and challenges Paul to change course. The Holy Spirit calls Paul to go to Jerusalem and then onward to Rome. So he calls the Ephesian leaders together to say goodbye and give them parting instructions.


And that is where our scripture reading begins today. Reading from Acts chapter 20, verses 24-27.


But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may accomplish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. And now, behold, I know that all you among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom will see my face no more. Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.


Paul emphasizes to the Ephesians that his ministry is to testify to God, and this Paul has done faithfully in the midst of the Ephesian community. He never shirked his duty and he always testified and witnessed to the marvelous purpose of God. Paul declares what we all should declare, that our value only comes in how our words and actions

point to Christ and the cross.

And even though it might sound cold to us, Paul tells the Ephesians that he is not responsible for how the Word of God is received, but that our responsibility is only to share the hope and promise with others.

But Paul does not end his goodbyes there, for although he is not responsible for the Ephesians, he

wants to help them finish the course that God has set for them.


And so he gives them four words of advice:


1). Watch out – Beware the wolves.


Acts 20:28-31 Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God which he obtained with the blood of his own Son. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears.


Paul did not have to get an MBA from Harvard Business School to know that when a leader leaves, there often is a vacuum that Satan uses to exploit a community. And he gets real specific in saying that the attack can often come from within, as people grab and scheme for power and distort the truth. Paul cautions the Ephesians to be alert to this and to be on guard. His tears are a reference to the how this type of activity can tear apart God’s work and God’s church which has been built on the blood of Christ.


2). So to guard against such an attack, Paul encourages the Ephesians to remain in the word.


Acts 20:32 And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.


God’s message of grace, God’s self-emptying love as revealed in Christ’s life, death and resurrection. Remain in God’s word, in order to receive and be reminded of God’s promises and hope. This prepares a community to receive a new leader, in order to finish the course. Because it reminds us that God uses people in seasons to tend to his flock and to lead them.

When the going is good, sometimes easy to stop staying in the word. But when hard times fall, it is the practices we have done that helps us remember whose we are.

Marianna McKinney recently had surgery for a brain tumor. She had to undergo many tests before and after the surgery including multiple MRIs. She told me how she got through them, with all the humming and the claustrophobia was to sing all the old familiar hymns.

Another parishioner on her deathbed in hospice, had her family surround her as they recited scriptures that they knew by heart. She passed from this world to the next with the word of God as her escort.

But it is more than just personal comfort. When we read scriptures as a community, we understand whose we are, and how we are to follow the cross of Christ.


3). Another way to Guard against attack, is to follow Paul’s example.


Paul makes this point in verses 33-35. I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities, and to those who were with me. In all things I have shown you that by so toiling one must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, `It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"


Not because Paul’s example should be idolized, but because it pointed to the cross of Christ. When a leader leaves, it is important to celebrate their ministry and to the ways that they pointed to the cross of Christ. Their examples help us to imagine how we ourselves are leaders and point to the goodness of Christ, without it all being about ourselves.


Our leaders help us to understand our calling, both personally and as a church. We see their example, and it helps us to believe that we too may be faithful to our calling to follow Christ. Newbigin wrote “The deed and the word do not always have to go together. But they must both be seen to be part of the same reality – the reality of a new power, a new reign which has broken this world." We can't say we believe one thing and act another way.


4). Finally, Paul prays with the Ephesian leaders in their grief.


Acts 20:36 - 21:1 And when he had spoken thus, he knelt down and prayed with them all. And they all wept and embraced Paul and kissed him, sorrowing most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they should see his face no more. And they brought him to the ship.


Paul does not ignore their grief, does not tell them to buckle up and get over it. No, Paul knows that the answer to our grief is prayer. That when we pray together, we have a stronger sense that Jesus in our midst and that he is equipping us to continue the course so that we may complete it.


Our tears remind us of the tears Christ shed on the Cross And we know that our tears are not for naught. Rather as we surrender our tears in prayer to Christ, He gathers them up and redeems them. And this act of Jesus gives us hope and strength to move onward and forward with Him to the cross.


So we see, that whenever there is a change in leadership, whether in sports, or at work or even in the church, it is important to keep four things in mind:


1). Be watchful for evil in our midst and beware the wolves.

2). Guard against evil by faithfully staying in the Word and message of Christ.

3). Celebrate the ministry of the outgoing leadership. Their example taught us a lot what it means in concrete terms to take up the cross of Christ and claim it as our foundation.

4). Pray, pray, pray, and not just alone but with each other and with our leaders, acknowledging our grief even as we claim the Cross of Christ as our past, present and future hope.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Easter Sunrise

Romans 6:3-11 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For he who has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. For we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.


For a brief while Jesus who was with God since the beginning and who had created the heavens and the earth, emptied himself and in obedience to God came to earth in the form of a human man, so that he could save the world, not condemn it.

And while he was here on earth he healed many, gave hope to the poor, loved the children and the widows, brought the marginalized into his community, ate with the lowest of the lows and challenged all of us to look at our sin and the way we use power to hurt others. All the while he was scorned by those who should have embraced him and misunderstood by many.

All this he did as a gift for us.


When his time here on earth came near to an end, he endured being betrayed by a friend, one of his inner circle. His trial by the authorities was a sham.

The guards beat him and stripped him, mocked him and spit at him. They dragged him to Golgotha where they lay him on a cross with two common criminals on each side. The guards were joined by a large crowd and the elders and chief priests and scribes. Their hatred and disbelief lead them to mock Jesus and taunt him calling him the King of Jews.

Jesus in his love for us, brought them and us, and all of our sin and evil to the foot of the cross, and then he gave his final self up for us. He emptied himself completely up to his Father for us. And then he died.

All this he did as a gift for us.


And at the moment on Good Friday when Jesus died, it must have seemed to the world that evil and sin had won over goodness. The world would stay in darkness and we would scratch out our existence in hatred and sin.

Yet a lone centurion witnessed to the truth. He said, Surely this man was the Son of God. Truth and goodness had prevailed. Jesus has brought us to the cross so that our sins could be forgiven and so that evil could reign no more on earth.

But it was a lone light in the darkness. It was just a flicker and the world had little hope that the light of the goodness of Jesus was for us, that we could claim it. It was a distant light, like the light we see now in the trees. Flickering, illuminating just a little bit, but still leaving us to grope hesitantly in the darkness and in the shadows.

He had died for us, but was it a gift we could receive and claim for our lives?

Three days the world lived in twilight. They took Jesus down from the cross and buried him in a tomb. They put a large boulder at the entrance of the tomb and then they went home and waited.
The last time I was in the Keys, I got up early to see the sunrise. I bundled up in a blanket, just as some of you are bundled here today and I went and sat on the beach and waited. With each passing second the sky changed, colors were introduced, rays of the yet as unseen sun danced off the clouds on the horizon. Twilight was so much better than the darkness, there was so much expectancy and so much hope of something to come that was better than the dark. But still there were shadows and uncertainty.

The ocean remained dark and menacing. The trees moved in the breeze and seemed to loom around me. There was a chill in the air that I could not avoid. There was beauty and goodness but there still was a threat or a potential that darkness would swallow up the light and we would be plunged right back into the chaos of the night.

And just right before the sun indeed peeked over the horizon, there was a pause. Probably not a long one in the span of time of creation, yet a hesitation, that was palpable. It made me hold my breath. It was if the suspension of time was meant to draw me to the promise to come…was preparing me to accept its promise…was inviting me into the new day…I leaned forward as I sat on the beach…

And then the sun in all its brightness came over the horizon and lit up the ocean and the land and my face. Sunrise…The promise of a new day…was indeed there for me to enter into. It had been given to me as a gift that morning and I took it with all its promise and hope.



So the new morning, when the women came to the tomb and found it empty. Jesus had risen. He now sat at the right hand of his father. The heavens were alive with the sounds of praise and halleluiahs, that Jesus, who had emptied himself and came to earth to save us, had indeed brought salvation to the world. A new day had come to earth and to heaven and Jesus was and is Lord of it all. Death, evil and sin would not have the final say. Light would prevail. We would not have to grope around anymore, but we could enter into the new day that the Lord had made.

All this he did as a gift for us.


And the light revealed that Jesus had taken all that was ordinary, all that was familiar to us and made it new. And he did this because he loved us with a love that was stronger than death, stronger than evil, stronger than sin..

When the sun rises and overcomes the darkness, the ocean is still the ocean, the trees still the trees, I am still who I am.

But everything is different now. There has been a change. The light has illuminated everything in the world in a new and fantastic way. By coming to the cross, our sins have been forgiven, we have been liberated and in response we give ourselves up to Christ as an offering to him.

And Jesus takes us in all of our ordinariness and he reshapes us so that we may become extraordinary. Unified with Jesus’ we too become a gift for the world.


In communion we see this. We offer up to Jesus ordinary bread and juice and through the work of the Holy Spirit it becomes a gift to us from Jesus. What is ordinary, becomes extraordinary, life giving, becomes something that points to the goodness of Christ.

All this he did as a gift for us.

But how often do we think of ourselves as extraordinary as a gift for the world. Now I know that sometimes we will say about an egotistical person that they think that they are God’s gift to the world.

But how often do we really understand that in the resurrection Jesus offers to us the gift of a sacred life. A life lived for Jesus, a life that points to Jesus. A life poured out for others, a life of humility and obedience to Jesus. A life of giftedness that is to be shared not hoarded.


Paul in our scripture this morning sees the work of Christ this way. As a gift. He then challenges us to make a decision. We can’t have it both ways. We can’t stay in twilight and live in the darkness while also having one step in the light. Our liberation is not about us having our own way, living as we want to live. The pregnant pause of twilight has occurred. We will either live for Christ or we will live for ourselves.

Jesus has offered us his life, his death and his resurrection. He has offered us the freedom of a sacred life lived as a gift from God to be shared with the world. Will we be slaves to the twilight, to the security of the shadows that hide our shame and guilt, to the darkness where we can gain power and use fear and intimidation for our own gain?

We will either live lives of sacred worth or we will live lives of waste and sin.

Will we turn our backs to the light, or will we seek it for our lives? Will we in response to Christ’s actions, offer ourselves up to Christ so that he can re-form all that we are into his goodness, or will we deny Christ and live according to our needs and our desires?