Intercessory Prayer - Exercise in Persistence

 7^th Sunday after Pentecost

July 24, 2022

Fr. Phil Eberhart

 

 

Intercessory Prayer – Exercise in Persistence

 

 

Is there anyone else here that suffers from guilt over not praying enough?  There are a pile of should’s and oughts that get added onto our spiritual lives, and this is one of the most common.  We know that we should pray – that we ought to pray about things – first or at all.  But we just get so busy going, going going and doing, doing, doing, that we just forget.  We forget God!

 

And that is a pickle when we get there.

I was talking to a friend the other day about a program that is on going in our diocese, and he admitted that he was frustrated with banging his head against a stone wall – lots of energy, lots of effort, lots of time and talent and treasure expended --- no results!!

Then it dawned on him he should pray about the program.  Whoa!!

All of a sudden, when he turned the program over to God, stuff started working!  Help came out of the woodwork!

 

This week I was personally convicted by Stacey and Jerry as they talked about their “secret place” time with God.

PRAY ~  LISTEN  ~  OBEY

 

This morning our scriptures point us in a very specific direction!  We see the story of the Intercession of Abraham for Sodom & Gomorrah.

We hear Jesus teach the disciples how to pray as He does.

And Paul gives us the context for such a life of prayer – a life of alignment with God’s purpose and lived in His power.

Get you pencil or pen out because I will give you some ways to mark up your bulletin this morning.  We are going to be reading with a highlighter, underlining and circling some words and thoughts.

 

Let me preface this by saying that as we enter into prayer we are entering into Jesus’ present ministry!  Scripture tells us that Jesus “ever lives to make intercession for us.” 

We readily admit that God has a plan for our lives and that it is good, but we rarely get still enough, especially in our culture of distraction here in the West – in the US of A – to actually hear what God is saying.

A few weeks ago we read the calling of Samuel as a young boy, as a pre-prophet!  It says in those days “the Word of the Lord was rare!”

So Samuel had to learn as a young man to recognize the voice of the Lord God when God was speaking to him.  Several times he mistook the voice in the night for Eli’s.  Finally Eli got it, and told Samuel to respond to the voice:  “Speak Lord for your servant is listening.”

 

Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.   Not a bad place to start, eh?

In our OT lesson Abraham was doing the speaking.  Over and over and over, with God apparently nodding His head and agreeing along the way!  We get a pretty good picture of what Jesus talks about in the Gospel reading when He says: 

[Luk 11:8 ESV] I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs.

 

Interestingly, God isn’t put off by Abraham as He pleads for the righteous in the city.  And each request is readily granted to Abraham.  I’ve always been struck by this passage and the persistence – the impudence – of Abraham in approaching God in this way; but God seems perfectly OK with it.

 

When Jesus took up the request of His disciples to “teach us to pray” He gives them some pointers – a model prayer – and then immediately launches into a story of someone who goes across the street to get bread at midnight from a neighbor who is in bed.  The picture is one of a rare kind of persistence – the word that is used here in the Greek only occurs in this verse in the whole Bible!!  It can be translated “without shame” or “shameless.”  It is shameless impudence that is being highlighted by Jesus! What does that mean?

 

Our stance and approach toward God is not to be one of meekness, of embarrassment, of asking timidly or weakly for His mercy and grace, for His direction and empowerment.  We are to “Come boldly before the throne of grace.”

 

[Heb 4:14-16 ESV]  Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.  Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

 

The position of intercession is one which we are to take up with boldness.  Abraham stood in God’s way as He was about to destroy the cities – he was the in-between one – the “intercessor” who was standing “in the gap” between God and Man.  Prayer is often not a comfortable place.  It requires us to know our station, and yet to approach God with boldness. 

 

And what is our station here?  Turn in your bulletin to the reading from Colossians – or to your Bible if you have one with you.

Get your pen out and I want you to circle or underline the instances of the words IN HIM or WITH HIM in these few verses.  Take just a minute to do that.

 

 

 

Second Reading:    Colossians 2:6-15

⁶ Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, ⁷ rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

⁸ See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. ⁹ For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, ¹⁰ and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. ¹¹ In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, ¹² having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. ¹³ And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, ¹⁴ by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

9 times in 9 verses.  The same is true of several other passages by the way, as Paul is clear that all that we are and do in the Kingdom and for the King is done “IN HIM”  and  “WITH HIM.”  Take a look at Ephesians 1 some time! 

We are all familiar with John 15:5 right?  “Apart from me, you can do nothing!”

The secret sauce here is abiding IN HIM and moving WITH HIM.  Abraham was not twisting God’s arm!  Abraham was interceding in ALIGNMENT with the will of God.  He took the place of intercession because God gave him a heart of compassion;  I’m certain that his love for his nephew, Lot and his family played a part in that.  But God allowed Abraham to enter into this place and granted each request without an argument.  Abraham was praying – he was interceding, according to the will of the Father.

 

So how do we enter into that place?

 

Do you remember that I’ve said many times, “when you see a need, you’re in the game!”  Stepping off the bench and onto the field, means you are stepping into Abraham’s place of intercession!

You are stepping into the place of Jesus, right along side Him in His intercessions!  He welcomes you there.  And the first thing you need to do is find our from Him what He is praying for!  What direction does God want to go here?

When God highlights someone to you; you see someone in need and feel that twinge from the Spirit of God, pray right then!  God what do you want me to do or say?  How can I be Your Presence in this situation?  How can I be a blessing?

That is what it means to ABIDE IN HIM!  Every moment, every circumstance, every person we meet!  We are “on mission” with Him.

We are the presence, the fragrance of Jesus, to those around us.

I want us to finish here this morning by re-reading the last part of the Gospel from Luke 11.  Will you turn to it and read with me?

Let’s begin at verse 9 and read to the end:

⁹ And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. ¹¹ What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; ¹² or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? ¹³ If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

God is inviting us into His mission in the world and He is promising us that He will be with us,  IN US, as we go.  We’ve heard it over and over and over again:   Willingness … Availability … and Obedience.  Stacey told us that God is looking for those who are Faithful… Available… and Teachable!  And that obedience is the deal!  What God is asking us to do, we can’t do alone!  We can’t do anything apart from Him and we are called to do what we do TOGETHER WITH HIM because we are IN HIM. 

 

Let me say it again in the words of Paul:

⁹ For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, ¹⁰ and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

 

Jesus said, ALL AUTHORITY has been given to me in the whole world,

Therefore GO!

 

Father in Heaven,  We hallow Your Name.  Make your Name Holy and wholly renowned through us.  Jesus, we want to make You famous.  Let your Kingdom come – reign among us here on this earth, just like you do in heaven.  Let Your will be done in our lives.  We give them over to You fully this day.

Save us, Lord God, from the time of trial and the day of temptation. Put the world, our flesh and the Devil under our feet.

Give us what we need to live for you:  Our daily provision, like the Manna you provided day by day in the wilderness.

Apart from You, Lord, we can do nothing.  Be our sufficiency, our competence, and the one who brings fruit, more fruit and much fruit.

Let your glory be ours, as Jesus prayed, as we are One In Him and One with each other, that the whole world may know.

For the sake of the Kingdom of God and the Fame of Jesus Name, we pray.

Amen.

Our Independence - One Nation, Under God

Independence Weekend

July 3, 2022

Fr. Philip Eberhart

click here to watch video

 

 

Yesterday afternoon I listened to a reading of theDeclaration of Independence, and I commend it to you.  It takes about 10 minutes of your day and tomorrow would be a marvelous time for us to reflect again on the words that are therein!  Let me prime the pump a bit:

This is just the first section of the document, down to the listing of the “usurpations:”

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

 

And here begins the list of the overreach of the tyranny of King George in England through which the colonists had come in their founding years.  Actions which later informed our own Bill of Rights and Constitution, just as the Liberty and Justice did which the original pilgrims sought as they fled the religious persecutions of the Old World and came to the New.

 

How long has it been since you spent any time at all refreshing or even making a memory of these events; of the times in which our Founding Father’s lived, just 246 years ago; of the fates of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence; who put their names to the document swearing: 

“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”

 

I want to commend to you a Paul Harvey monologue on YouTube on The Founding Fathers.  Again about 10 minutes out of your life, but well worth the listen, as Paul Harvey draws our attention to the price of freedom for these 56 men and their families who pledged their Lives, Fortunes and Sacred Honor.  It is a sobering reminder that freedom is never free!

 

I want also this morning to commend to you an extraordinary resource that I picked up when we had a breakfast here at REZ this past spring, with the Truth and Liberty Coalition, and historian David Barton.  David is the historian who oversaw this Founder’s Bible and its contribution to the literature of our providential history in these United States.  I also commend the website he curates: https://wallbuilders.com

 

Over and over in public arenas we say a Pledge ourselves: we call it the Pledge of Allegiance:  “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands: One Nation, Under God, Indivisible, With liberty and Justice for all.”

 

ONE NATION:

In our prayer book there is a prayer for the Nation, which we will pray in a few moments this morning.  I try to use it in our morning prayers at least once each week.  There is a line in it that says: “Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues.”

Our national motto, in fact, E PLURIBUS UNUM – Out of Many, One! Speaks to the unity which undergirds our nation – a unity which we only find fully in the common life, the KOINONIA, of the Body of Christ, rightly understood and rightly lived out in society.  That is why the next phrase is so important to this nation:

UNDER GOD!

 Added to the Pledge by Dwight Eisenhower in 1954, the year of my birth, it was the result of a sermon one Sunday!  Here are just a few lines of that sermon by Rev. Docherty: [Feb 7, 1954; New York Ave Pres Chur]

"Early American history was caught up with a sense of destiny that was broader and deeper than simply personal ambitions and the desire to be a success.  The Puritans triumphed because they made success the by-product rather and the end of their lives.  Lincoln in his day, say this clearly.  Under God the nation would know a new birth of freedom. And by implication it could only be Under God that "government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

It is only as we live our lives UNDER GOD that we come into the freedom, the liberty, the justice for all, that we speak of.  There is no other place where it is available! 

I have said over and over that we have a choice to live our lives in two ways:   With a pen-knife or with a highlighter!  Our approach to our history – whether we read it in The Bible or in The Declaration of Independence and Constitution or Bill of Rights are subject to these mindsets of ours:  If we read with a pen-knife, poised to remove the sections that are uncomfortable or that we deem out-dated, we place ourselves “over” the Bible or the historical document that we are reading.  We are after all, as one Episcopal Church bishop was heard to say, “the Authors of the Bible; we can change the Bible!”  Today we have many who take this approach to history, to scripture, and to truth.

 

But what if we read it with a Highlighter?

What if we Hear, Read, Mark, Learn and Inwardly Digest the words of these documents, as if they matter… greatly… for our life and for our salvation!  What if we live in such a way that the Bible and dare I say, our foundational documents of Freedom, are “OVER” us, not US OVER THEM!  What if we allow them to speak into our lives, and motives, and our very being where we live?  What if what they said really mattered?

 

INDIVISIBLE

What does that word even mean?  How about UN _ DIVIDE-ABLE?

How do we even begin to live into that word, that concept, in today’s culture of division?  I noted in my mind, as I read the Declaration that the word united in the first sentence is not yet capitalized.  “United” was an adjectival descriptor, not a Proper Name!   Today it is a proper name: The United States of America.  But friends we are in the gravest danger we have been in since the Civil War, I believe.  The forces of division are afoot – in word and in deed, and we must be vigilant to both act and speak as ONE NATION - UNDER GOD.

Unity does not, indeed it cannot come from inside of us, it comes from a place where every knee has bowed and every tongue confessed – where we have ‘surrendered’ – yielded our selfish autonomy and prideful ways to the Lordship of the ONE WHOSE NAME IS ABOVE EVERY NAME THAT IS NAMED IN HEAVEN OR ON THE EARTH!  The KING of KINGS and the LORD OF LORDS, JESUS.

Apart from HIM, we can do … No thing!

 

WITH LIBERTY & JUSTICE FOR ALL!

He hath shown thee, O man, what is good, and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God”   Micah 6:8

One of our other Prayerbook prayers says it this way:

“…especially we pray for thy holy Church universal, that it may be so guided and governed by thy good Spirit, that all who profess and call themselves Christians may be led into the way of truth, and hold the faith in unity of spirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life” 

[#40, For all sorts and conditions of men, BCP 2019, p. 658]

 

Dear friends,

On this eve of our celebration of Independence Day, I want to commend you to the resources I’ve mentioned.  You can access them on my REZPADRE Blogspot, and they are live links in the sermon there.  Just click to watch or to go to the resources.

Let us spend just a few minutes tonight or tomorrow considering the cost of our freedom and our independence and let us, as we watch the fireworks or eat the bounty of our land, let us give thanks to God, first of all, for our freedoms and liberties;  Let us give God thanks for the sacrifices made by our Founding Fathers, by our military and those who today protect our freedoms around the world!  Take this bulletin home and sing the songs again, paying attention to the words.

Paying Attention!  I think we can all benefit from Paying Attention!

God’s hand is evident in the calling, in the formation, in the history, the letters and documents of our nation.  My prayer in these final days is that the Lord not pass us by because we have so often passed Him by!  

Lord have mercy upon us!  

Christ have mercy upon us!  

Lord have mercy upon us.

Let us stand to confirm and affirm our faith in the words of the Nicene Creed and in our prayers this morning.  Please stand with me.

 

Father Philip D Eberhart

July 3, 2022 

Easter 5 - New Every Morning

 5^th Sunday of Easter
May 15, 2022
Fr. Phil Eberhart

 

NEW EVERY MORNING

 

This sermon may be more appropriate for Lent -  or at least it has its roots in our Lenten disciplines of coming to God through Jesus in repentance and prayer.

I was blessed to be given a seat at the table with some friends this past Wednesday at the Colorado Prayer Luncheon and an old friend was the speaker, Pastor Robert Gelinas from Colorado Community Church, Aurora.  Robert and I were youth pastors at the same time, he at 1^st Pres in Golden and I at Christ Episcopal Church, Denver.  Today the work he does is large and it richly blesses the city and the area.

He spoke, of course, on prayer!  What a novel idea for a prayer luncheon!!  He turned our attention to a simple prayer, that we know well, from our Morning Prayer and our Eucharistic Offices that says simply:

"Lord, have mercy!

Christ, have mercy!

Lord, have mercy!"

You’ve heard of the 8-word prayer:  “O God! O God! O God! O God!”

This is the 9-word prayer!

 

He talked about driving and praying on Colfax from east to west.  Something I’ve had the occasion to do as well, with groups and individually a few times.  He urged everyone there, and the Colorado Convention Center was full to the brim, to pray that 9-word prayer over the streets of our city “as we go.”

Lord, have mercy!   Christ, have mercy!  Lord, have mercy!

 

This morning I want to explore a bit, the mercy of God. Some of our favorite scriptures and favorite songs are about this subject.  One of mine is actually both – a couple of mine in fact!  What a surprise, I know!

 

“ He hath shown thee, O Man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee:  But to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God!”

 

“The steadfast love of The Lord never ceases;  His mercies never come to an end; They are new every morning, new every morning, Great is Thy faithfulness, O Lord!  Great is Thy faithfulness!”

 

If I could just leave you with those two songs rolling around in your brain this week, my job would be done here!  But wait there’s more!

The words “mercy, mercies, or merciful” show up over 200 times in the Bible!  Here is a brief survey:

The place where God’s presence rests in the Tabernacle is called…
The MERCY Seat – it is the top of the Ark of the Covenant.  It is the place where Jesus, after the resurrection, brought the offering of His own blood to pour out for the sin of the world!  Once for all, in obedience to the Father:  on The Mercy Seat.

The Lord God begins to reveal this to Moses on the mountain, as He passes by:

Exodus 34:6

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,

And this self description by God is then repeated over and over and over again throughout the Old Testament:

Nehemiah, chapter 9;  Psalms 86, 103, and 145; Joel 2; and Jonah 4.

 

The hymn of Jeremiah in Lamentations 3, that we sang a moment ago:

Lamentations 3:21-23

²¹ But this I call to mind,
    and therefore I have hope:

²² The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;^[a]
    his mercies never come to an end;
²³ they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.

 

The mercies of God are the motivation for our self-presentation as living sacrifices in Romans 12:1;  our awareness of God’s mercies to us, both individually and corporately, form the basis of our becoming “living sacrifices” – worshipping God genuinely and whole heartedly, which Paul then calls our “reasonable service of worship.”

 

JB Phillips translates those verses this way…

12 ^1-2 With eyes wide open to the mercies of God, I beg you, my brothers, as an act of intelligent worship, to give him your bodies, as a living sacrifice, consecrated to him and acceptable by him. Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but let God re-mold your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity.

 

Mercy is the stuff of the prayer that Jesus pointed his disciples to as a model of repentance from the publican (the tax collector) vs. the prayer of the “righteous” Pharisee:  We call it “The Jesus Prayer.”

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!”

 

And as I pointed out in my first song, it is what I call God’s TRIFECTA:

Micah 6:8  “He has shown you, O Man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you:  But to do justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God”

Justice / Mercy / Humility

 

Does what we do today have these three marks?  Because these marks are the marks of the People of God – they form the stuff of the fragrance – the incense of His presence – in the world!

Paul tells us that we are to spread the fragrance of His Victory, and this is what it smells like!  How would people in the world respond to that fragrance, when they are used to harsh judgement and condemnation from Christians.

a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,

How can we show people this God?

Jesus said it, in our Gospel reading this morning:

³⁴ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. ³⁵ By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

 

The mercies of God are the outworking of His nature, which is Holy Love.  Holiness absolute to the degree that He had to cover Moses eyes because he would not have been able to survive seeing!  Love great enough that He had to show Himself, and eventually came to speak to Moses, face to face, as a friend of God.

 

The Mercy of God is captured in the Blessing of Aaron that we say or sing every week.  The Lord … “MAKE HIS FACE SHINE UPON YOU, BE GRACIOUS TO YOU.  THE LORD LIFT HIS FACE TOWARD YOU, AND GIVE YOU PEACE.”

Have you ever lifted a son or daughter above your head?  Sometimes you throw them into the air and catch them over your head!  Think about what the Lord is saying here:   The Lord LIFT HIS FACE TOWARD YOU.  Where are you in that picture?  If God’s face is lifted toward you, He is below you.  He has picked you up and is tossing you into the air.  It is the most joyful and intimate moment that a parent can have with their child!

This is the picture I want to leave you with this morning.  God loves you radically.  Mercy is His DNA!  He cannot do otherwise!

 

If you have a God-image that is something else – anything else – then you need to study this message over and over and over again.  Get God’s Mercy into YOUR DNA!  Marinate in God’s MERCY –

 

a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,

Pray with me:

Lord, Have Mercy!  
Christ, have mercy!   Lord, have mercy!

Look mercifully, O Father, on our infirmities; and, for the glory of your Name, rescue us from all those evils we now endure; and grant that in all our troubles we may put our whole trust and confidence in your mercy, serving you in holiness and purity of life, to your honor and glory; through our only Mediator and Advocate, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Sung:

Holy God,

Holy and Mighty,

Holy Immortal One,

Have mercy upon us.

Easter 2 - WHO MOVED THE STONE?

 EASTER 2
April 24, 2022
Fr. Phil Eberhart

 

Who Moved the Stone?

 

Can you imagine being in the Disciples’ shoes that first day?  Our readings are filled with activity for them and for us!

First thing in the morning, the women go to the tomb and find it empty.  They run back but Mary lingers and “runs into” Jesus.  Mistaking Him for the gardener she begs him to reveal where they have taken Jesus!  Resurrection was certainly not on their radar?

The women carry the news back to the disciples and are laughed out of the room.  But Peter and John run to the tomb (no doubt or confusion as to where it is) to see the grave clothes empty and the head piece folded neatly and set apart from the shroud Jesus was wrapped in.

Meanwhile two disciples (not part of the Eleven who are locked in the Upper Room), encounter a stranger on the road to Emmaus who tells them all about the things that have been going on and explains it all from the Torah and the Prophetic Writings!  Then when they sit down to eat, he breaks the bread and they realize it was Jesus all along!  And He disappears as they are eating with him.   Heart Burn!!  They run the seven or so miles back to the Upper Room and burst in with the news … AGAIN … that Jesus is alive!

Just then… our reading this morning!

Jesus shows up in the locked room.  “PEACE BE WITH YOU”  -  I imagine they were scared out of their wits!  They have no frame of reference for this, even though he told them several times that this was going to happen.

[  Val told me about a comic strip of the conversation between Pilate and Joseph of Arimathea about the Body of Jesus:

Pilate: So let me get this straight, You, one of the richest men in Jerusalem, with a brand new tomb, want the body of this Jesus character, and you’re going to give him your new tomb!  I don’t get it.

Joseph:  Oh, don’t worry about it … it’s only for the weekend!]

Now the disciples are totally undone!  Here stands Jesus!  Can you imagine Peter’s reaction?  From silence in the corner, very uncharacteristic for Peter, to (how does he later describe it?) as “Joy unspeakable or inexpressible and full of glory.”  1 Pet 1:8

 And if you read that full verse in context it says almost the same thing as Jesus tells Thomas here, word for word!  Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,”    Where do you think that all came from?

It came from this scene in the Upper Room on the first night of the Resurrection appearances of Jesus!

Friends,

The Resurrection changes everything!  It’s not just a cool story that is the fairy tale ending of a horrible predicament!  Tale of terrible suffering that ends in triumph!   It’s not JUST A TALE – it’s not a fable or what do the liberals call it – oh yes :  A MYTH!

This is no MYTH!   No nursery rhyme with a neat ending.

 

This is A Creation-Altering FACT.

 

A week ago last night Jacob did a masterful job of laying out the arguments over the ages for a dead Jesus. But they all FAIL because of THE FACTS.

Never mind the Eye Witness testimony of people who saw Him die, dead and buried, then alive, speaking, walking, eating, teaching.
Eye witnesses,(the pinnacle of courtroom testimony) many of whom were still alive at the writing of the Gospel accounts! 
And very able to immediately speak up and say, “NOT SO FAST THERE!”

 

Never mind the Disciples themselves who were one minute cowering in the upper room corner for fear that they were going to be next on the Jewish leaders’ list!  And the next minute, they’re standing in the open Temple Square proclaiming a Risen Jesus, whom they must Proclaim and Obey over the temple authorities and Romans.  On pain of imprisonment and beating.  How do you explain that?

 

And what about the soldiers?

1)    Roman’s don’t sleep on duty – they die if they do!

2)    Disciples who are fearing for their lives don’t move rocks and steal bodies – not these anyway! 

3)    So … WHO MOVED THE STONE?  Just Google that question!!  I dare you.

 

And finally, what about the Body itself?  No Jesus has been found in any tomb… EVER. 

WHY?

ALLELUIA !!  ALLELUIA!   THE LORD IS RISEN.

THE LORD IS RISEN INDEED.  ALLELUIA!   ALLELUIA!!

 

The Lord is Risen … Indeed!  In Truth and in the flesh!   He was raised Bodily from the dead!  He cooked and ate fish and bread, and they were able to touch His wounds.

For 40 days in all kinds of places and with all numbers of people Jesus appeared alive and well.  Can we say that this was the Disciples’ A HA MOMENT?

I’d love to say FINALLY, they got it!

But not really.  On the morning of His Ascension, they were still questioning him about his plans to overthrow Rome and set up His own Kingdom!  They never REALLY got it until they were indwelt by the Holy Spirit Himself on Pentecost!

The period from the Ascension to Pentecost – what we call the “Ten Days Together in the Upper Room” followed by the Day of Pentecost had to be the most soul searching, prayerful, desperate days of anticipation and questioning. 

Ask …   Seek …   Knock!  God will give you the gift of the Holy Spirit;  the gift My Father promised; the Well springing up within you!

Can you imagine? 

40 days with Jesus … alive in your midst.  Walking, teaching, one-on-one time, Thomas’s “come-to-Jesus meeting”.  “MY LORD AND MY GOD!”

Blessed are those who have not seen yet they believe!

 

That’s us friends.

The proofs, the reasonableness of the FACTS of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, are in my mind irrefutable to the rational mind and to faith (even faith as small as a mustard seed, like Jesus said.)

Paul tells us that this belief:  That Jesus was risen from the dead is at the absolute center of our salvation and that our confession of this belief with our mouth is equally central to our salvation. 

THE LORD IS RISEN!        THE LORD IS RISEN INDEED!!  

Did anyone here have to cross your fingers when you said that second part?

If so… Google “whomovedthestone?” and read about it in detail.  Book has been around since 1930!

AND SO…

If you can answer:  The LORD IS RISEN INDEED and you believe it in your heart, you are “saved.”  Everyone who “calls on the Name of the Lord, will be saved.”

But if you’ve never heard this before – or you’ve heard it but like Thomas and most of the other disciples, there is still doubt… still questions in the back of your mind. IT’S OK!! Jesus did not throw Thomas away here!  Peter could not walk on the water all the way, and later denied Jesus (while they were face to face in the courtyard of the High Priest’s house!)  

Please, please, let someone know;    me or another Christian friend.  Call or text me.  Don’t just ignore your questions?   READ UP!!  FIND OUT, for your sake!

This is heaven or hell.   Answer the question:  WHO MOVED THE STONE?

WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE ABOUT THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST FROM THE DEAD AND IT’S MEANING FOR YOU AND FOR LIVING YOUR LIFE FROM NOW ON?

Let’s pray:

Heavenly Father, you have delivered us from the dominion of sin and death, and brought us into the kingdom of your beloved Son: Grant that, as by his death he has called us to life, so by his love he may raise us to eternal joys; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Palm Sunday - Going the Distance (from Hosanna to "Crucify Him")

 Palm Sunday
April 10, 2022
Fr. Phil Eberhart

 

Going the Distance


Welcome to Palm Sunday and Holy Week this week.  Lot’s going on in the service this morning, so this will be a bit shorter.

 

I want to consider for a few moments the distance from Palm Sunday to Good Friday!  Already in today’s service we’ve experienced that shift from Hosanna, Lord!  To  “Crucify Him!”  Crucify Him!!”

It’s a pretty stark contrast in one morning … or one week!

I guess it speaks of the nature of our flesh and of the nature of our devotion.

 

I was at a retreat during my college days at ORU and we were in the Ozark mountains over by Eureka Springs, ARK at a retreat center that was perched on a mountain top at the head of this long valley that stretched off to the north of us.  That morning at 6 am I took some coffee and went out on the back porch only to find the whole valley view shrouded in fog.  I sat down with my coffee and bible and opened to Hosea, the prophet of Israel who acted out his prophecy – by marrying a prostitute.

As I read the story I came to chapter six where we see the contrast of God’s Hesed Love – Unfailing Love and their wavering, uncertain love.  Chapter six starts out well – with God’s people saying – “Come and let us return to the Lord, for He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us. … So let us know and become personally acquainted with Him; let us press on to know and understand fully the greatness of the Lord; to honor, heed, and deeply cherish Him.

And God replys to them…

O Ephraim, what shall I do with you? 
O Judah, what shall I do with you?
For your wavering loyalty and kindness are transient,
like the morning cloud
and like the dew that goes away early.

At that moment, as I stood on the veranda overlooking this valley the cloud, chased by the rising heat of the sun that early morning, was being chased out of the valley!  And the sun coming through the surrounding trees highlighted the fog exiting the valley overhead.

“Your love is like the morning cloud and like the dew that goes early away!”

 

My friends, this Palm Sunday morning I just want to highlight the short distance from Hosanna to Crucify Him!

The truth – a hard and inconvenient truth – is that we are extremely fickle!  It’s like dew on the grass in the morning that disappears in the heat of the morning – and not very long into the morning!  The clouds that melt away with the heat of the day are a perfect picture of our kind of love for God.  His is steadfast, unfailing HESED and ours … well…

 

So this week, I once again renew the invitation we heard five weeks ago, at the head of Lent on Ash Wednesday and the first Sunday morning:

I invite you to a holy lent … a holy, HOLY WEEK!  Through fasting and prayer, through reading and meditation on the verses we’ve read and heard this morning from the Passion Gospels;  I invite you to immerse yourself – allow yourself to marinate in the week between Palm Sunday and the Triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem and Good Friday, His trial, betrayals, the abandonment of his friends and followers (while he was the leading “messianic” hopeful!)  Well, “so much for that idea”! 

Read the stories again and place yourself along the Via Dolorosa – where are you in the crowd?  By the way there is no good place to be – no place where you can maintain your innocence in the face of this atrocity!  The closest you can come is Jesus own mother, or the women who wept or the Cyrenian who was forced by the Romans to carry His cross for him.  Those are the best seats in the house.  No one else in the picture is innocent here.  And the cast list is long! The disciples who ran, Peter who followed yet denied him almost to his face, the soldiers, the Pharisees, Pilate, washing his hands.

The palm branches are changed into crosses.  Really, need we say more.

Join us this week as you can.

 

Thursday night at the Last Supper.

 

Friday Noon or night at the Stations of the Cross – the walk on the Via Dolorosa.

 

Saturday night in The Great Vigil – that traces the whole journey of God’s HISTORY with mankind – the entrance of the LIGHT into the darkness – the chant of the EXULTET – the stories of God’s creation and Abraham – the Jews in Egypt and the Passover – One of the most ancient services in the whole Church.

 

 

Come and See.

Go the Distance:  from Hosanna to Crucify Him – from My God, My God and It is Finished to He is Risen.

 

Let us pray.

Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made, and you forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Getting Over a God who Hates Me - Fr. Phil

 Lent 4

March 27, 2022
Fr. Phil Eberhart

 

GETTING OVER A GOD WHO HATES ME

 

 

Have you ever wondered if God loves you?

 

It seems like we all have those moments, when we’re “under the circumstances”, and we get low and we hear that little voice that says, “God really hates you!”  All the negative things that people have said about us or over us in our past come roaring to the front of our minds!

 

Have you ever had that experience?

 

I think its actually pretty common – given the way our world works.  Or doesn’t work … really.

 

We really want to encounter God’s love for us in some way that we can grasp onto – that we can hold close – something that’s not “somewhere, out there…” – the Bette Midler god.  God is watching us!  I want a God who is doing more than just watching from a distance!  Right?  I want a God who is involved with my life – who is paying attention to little details in my “good, bad and ugly!”

 

Our gospel this morning paints a picture of a father and two sons.  Very familiar story – we’ve studied it before in some depth – songs have been written about it:  “When God Ran!”  great song.  Sometimes I call it the Parable of the Loving Father, instead of The Prodigal Son (or Sons!)

The Love of our God for us is on display here, no matter how low we go – nor how dutiful and obedient we are!  The two sons in the story are the opposite poles of our lives!   So often we get off track, lose our way, lose sight of what God wants for our lives – we love to “do our own thing.”

Or we concentrate on doing it all “right” – on being obedient, dutiful, the Good Son or Daughter – in order to “win” God’s affection in some way.

The picture we have of these two boys pales though, when we look at the picture of The Father – The Heart of the Father that we see here!

I imagine the Father standing daily at the window looking down the lane from the house, hoping against hope to see the figure of his lost son.  And one day, finally, after years away, that son comes back – a tiny figure in the distance, but Father sees him and recognizes the walk, the height of this boy, something that sparks that memory of his son…

And he runs out of the house, tossing his cloak aside to gain speed – running down the lane to gather up this broken, filthy, how does the letter of Revelation put it:  “…wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked.”  Yet, here God runs to meet us – to gather us in His arms – to restore us to the family with the new clothes and the ring for his finger!  In Revelation, Jesus says He is standing at the door knocking – we are in this state of wretchedness, pitiable, poor, blind and naked – and He wants to eat with us.

 

Do you get it?

 

Look with me for a moment at the passage from 2 Cor 5. 

¹⁸ All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹ that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them,

Reconciling US -  Reconciling THE WORLD

 

You know the verse:   For God so …  LOVED … the world

What does it take for us to grasp the meaning of that phrase?

 

Paul asks that in the passage we read yesterday at Duane’s memorial service:

³¹ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be^[i] against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 

 

Paul goes on:

The real fact is this:

³⁴ Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.^[j] 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

There’s a lot there!

And when we mix it in with the picture of God we see in our Gospel this morning, it’s a really powerful mix!

 

Does this sound like GOOD NEWS to you?  Do you think you know anyone for whom it might be GOOD NEWS as well?  How about everyone?

God so loved who?  THE WORLD.

And here is the hook!  When you know this, you’re on the hook to TELL THE STORY!

¹⁴ For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; ¹⁵ and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.^[b] The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. ¹⁸ All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹ that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 

²⁰ Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.

“We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

AND THE CAPSTONE:  THE WHOLE STORY IN A SENTENCE…

 ²¹ For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

 

Friends,  God loves us hilariously!  No matter how small or how great we feel;  no matter what we’ve done or not done;  no matter the volume of the accusations, the name calling, or the slop we’re into!

God LOVES US – GOD LOVES YOU – PERIOD! 

 

And one small step back in the opposite direction, brings God running to scoop you up in His arms. To welcome you home, to put on a feast – to come in and eat supper with you.

Your place of exile can become your place of acceptance and belonging!

 

And friends, once we’ve experienced this kind of extravagant, hilarious love for us, how can we not share it with everyone we meet?

 

How can we not!  “the love of Christ compels us!”

 

Pray with me:

 

Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross, that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace! 

So clothe us with Your Spirit, that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you, to the knowledge and love of you, for the honor of your Name!

 

Amen.