Sacrifice -- Why?

#askapastor

• 13th Sunday After Pentecost

with Philippians 2:1-11

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• A stranger set his book on an adjacent table at Panera and asked my companion if he’d watch his stuff while he filled his drink. “I’ll guard it with his life,” joked my companion as he pointed to another diner.

Sacrifice is related to value.

• Today’s Ask-A-Pastor question is simply “Sacrifice – why?”

• A few sacrifices from scriptures:
- Cain and Abel sacrifice (Gen 4:3-4. Cain offers fruit of the soil, Abel offers the fatportions of some firstborns from his flock).
Why sacrifice? Praise, thanksgiving, worship.

- After the flood, (Gen 8:20-21) Noah offered burnt offering animal sacrifices (God had instructed him to bring more than two of those animals!) and God was "pleased by the aroma." God responds with the covenant of the rainbow.
Also from Genesis 8, There is life in the blood (see also Ex 20:24) and God values life, and will demand an accounting for life.

- Job 1:5 sacrifices to cover for his childrens’ possible sins.
Why sacrifice? Intercession, forgiveness.

- Of course, the sacrifice of the Passover (Exodus 12) in which the faithful are saved from death because of their obedience and because of the blood of the lamb.

- You can read much about sacrifice in Leviticus.

A sacrifice system offered way to atone for sin, to clean & commit self, and to worship God / have fellowship with God.

• Consider the direction of sacrifice: outward. Away from self.
Consider root of sinfulness: inward. Me. Self-reliance, self-edification, self-glory.

Sacrifice is a prescribed treatment to our propensity to pride.
Also prevention!

Why sacrifice? It’s the pill to cure our ill! Direction.

• Before a faithful one was admitted to heaven, she asked to view hell. She saw tables heaped with good food, but the occupants were unable to eat because the only utensils were three feet long, and no one could feed themselves.
Then she was surprised in heaven to see tables heaped with good food, and three-foot-long utensils. The difference was that in heaven, the occupants were feeding each other.

• I suspect, though, that the question “Sacrifice – why?”
has to do with Jesus’ violent death on the cross.

Continuing the direction idea (sacrifice is us acting outwardly, giving something of our best to God in praise thanksgiving love) there’s an aspect of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ which is GOD GIVING GOD’S BEST TO HUMANKIND saying I desire your fellowship & company.

Still, violent.
Why does all-powerful God have to have a crucifixion to satisfy some blood debt?
Why can’t God just say Okay, I forgive you, I don’t need blood payment.

• When we sin, when we elevate ourselves over God, we choose separation from God. What’s the result of separation from God? We're like fish out of water. Separation from God is bad because we’re made by God for God & just as a fish made for water struggles out of water so we struggle away from God.

When we sin, it’s like we’re diving off a platform into rocky water or an empty pool. Away from God and into suffering.

And here’s the thing: Jesus knows we ultimately can’t bear separation from God so he dives into our situation to bear it for us, to absorb it, to remove the separation and the stain and bring us back into relationship with God.

It’s not that blood is required as payment for sin, it’s that death is the result of our choice to remove ourselves from God,
and Jesus jumps in and bears the consequence of our choice.

• The hope of Jesus is that we would be oriented towards God, & seek to bring others into alignment as well. & if we would bring others into alignment, what’s our direction? Away from self. 

Live sacrificially.

• Hymn 398 Jesus Calls Us O’er the Tumult

Philippians 2:1-11        (Common English Bible)

2 Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort in love, any sharing in the Spirit, any sympathy, 2 complete my joy by thinking the same way, having the same love, being united, and agreeing with each other. 3 Don’t do anything for selfish purposes, but with humility think of others as better than yourselves. 4 Instead of each person watching out for their own good, watch out for what is better for others. 5 Adopt the attitude that was in Christ Jesus:

6 Though he was in the form of God,
        he did not consider being equal with God something to exploit.
7 But he emptied himself
        by taking the form of a slave
        and by becoming like human beings.
When he found himself in the form of a human,
8         he humbled himself
              by becoming obedient to the point of death,
          even death on a cross.
9 Therefore, God highly honored him
        and gave him a name above all names,
10     so that at the name of Jesus everyone
        in heaven, on earth, and under the earth might bow
11         and every tongue confess that
            Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. X

A Life of Action

• 12th Sunday After Pentecost

Isaiah 1:1, 10-20   and Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16

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• During my vacation I was able to reflect on daily life without having to bear “normal” responsibilities. It gave perspective. Especially during political conventions and the beginning of the Olympics.

It’s important to be in thoughtful dialogue on issues
as we are God’s harvest workers and shepherds in this world.

The Christian life is a life of action.

• In Isaiah’s time God laments how faith practice is all practice and no faith, and it’s not honoring to God.
Faith practice should be living. 

(Imagine a devout Christian
whose business practices are ruthless and unjust… 

Imagine planning disobedience
because you know you can rely on forgiveness…)

The Christian life is life of action, not a life of checklist.

• Isaiah 1:17 what God wants: Justice. Aid.
Heartfelt compassionate action.

What else God wants: to make you clean:
“I’m standing here with soap & water, why do you turn away?”

• Hebrews 11: Faith practice is living, not ritualistic / formulaic.
Faith is actional. God-directional. Not self-concerned.

• Isaiah 1: God is more interested in works of mercy
than works of religion.
(The Christian life is both. Communion is both)

We want either/or.
How about this: “Do a good turn daily” or “Read your Bible daily”?
(answer: both. But do you think that one is preferred? Which? Why?)

• I spoke earlier about politics, which is really about people.
Engage. Dialogue. Represent. Point to God.
Act honorably & in such a way that folks not turned off by behavior.

• Faith practice should motivate compassionate action
& indeed that action should be organic and powerful.

Our church cannot exist unto itself
but must be involved in life affirming mission,
& periodically revisit and review.

• Take cue from Jesus, who did not sit at sideline and watch,
but extended his whole self, at risk of death,
so that we might have life & salvation.

• Hymn 2177 Wounded World

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 (CEB)     8/07/16

11 Faith is the reality of what we hope for, the proof of what we don’t see. 2 The elders in the past were approved because they showed faith.

3 By faith we understand that the universe has been created by a word from God so that the visible came into existence from the invisible…

8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance. He went out without knowing where he was going.

9 By faith he lived in the land he had been promised as a stranger. He lived in tents along with Isaac and Jacob, who were coheirs of the same promise. 10 He was looking forward to a city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

11 By faith even Sarah received the ability to have a child, though she herself was barren and past the age for having children, because she believed that the one who promised was faithful. 12 So descendants were born from one man (and he was as good as dead). They were as many as the number of the stars in the sky and as countless as the grains of sand on the seashore. 13 All of these people died in faith without receiving the promises, but they saw the promises from a distance and welcomed them. They confessed that they were strangers and immigrants on earth. 14 People who say this kind of thing make it clear that they are looking for a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking about the country that they had left, they would have had the opportunity to return to it. 16 But at this point in time, they are longing for a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God isn’t ashamed to be called their God—he has prepared a city for them.  X

Isaiah 1:1, 10-20  (Common English Bible) 8/07/16

1 The vision about Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah, Amoz’s son, saw in the days of Judah’s kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah…

10 Hear the Lord’s word, you leaders of Sodom.
    Listen to our God’s teaching, people of Gomorrah!
11 What should I think about all your sacrifices? says the Lord.
I’m fed up with entirely burned offerings of rams
    and the fat of well-fed beasts.
    I don’t want the blood of bulls, lambs, and goats.
12 When you come to appear before me,
    who asked this from you, this trampling of my temple’s courts?
13 Stop bringing worthless offerings. Your incense repulses me.
New moon, sabbath, and the calling of an assembly—
    I can’t stand wickedness with celebration!
14 I hate your new moons and your festivals.
    They’ve become a burden that I’m tired of bearing.
15 When you extend your hands, I’ll hide my eyes from you.
Even when you pray for a long time, I won’t listen.
Your hands are stained with blood.
16     Wash! Be clean! Remove your ugly deeds from my sight.
    Put an end to such evil; 17 learn to do good.
Seek justice: help the oppressed; defend the orphan;
   plead for the widow.

18 Come now, and let’s settle this, says the Lord.
Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be white as snow.
If they are red as crimson, they will become like wool.
19 If you agree and obey, you will eat the best food of the land.
20 But if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.

The Lord has said this.  X

The Great Commission

• 9^th Sunday After Pentecost

Matthew 28:11-20, the conclusion of the Gospel of Matthew

and Ephesians 1:3-14, Paul is really excited about the power of God in Christ

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• After 2.5 years we come to the conclusion of the Gospel of Matthew series.

We begin with the guards and the chief priests – PRIESTS, mind you – who PAY the guards to spread a lie. The same priests that paid a man to betray Jesus and then manipulated a crowd and a court to have Jesus killed… the same priests that were moral enough not to take "blood money." But we’ll not dwell on that.

• We have gone through somewhere between 80 and 90 sermons on Matthew.
Last week we talked about what was “good news”, and about the Matthean themes I suggested of discipleship and fruit. I’d add forgiveness to that, and the character of Jesus the genuine, Jesus the exposer of false teachers, Jesus the advocate of the abused.
Simply put, Jesus IS the presence of God.

• The Gospel of Matthew opens and closes with the expressed presence of God.
Opens with genealogy of Jesus, beginning with Abraham (because rooted in Jewish identity) and through David and through the Babylonian exile… showing what? Presence of God through good times and bad, through generations.

Then the angel to Joseph that Jesus will save the people from sins, there’s forgiveness in him, and he’ll be called Immanuel, God with us. Oh, and God may do things in unexpected ways. Trust God.

• Ephesians 1:10 God planned to bring all things together in Christ.
And we who place our hope in Jesus are honored by God.

• The Good News of Jesus Christ is forgiveness
and God’s presence, presence always.

• And Jesus expects and authorizes and commissions us to do as he did.
Not because we’re deserving – we’re selfish rebels – but because of who God is and who God calls us to be.

^19 “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you. Look, I myself will be with you every day until the end of this present age.”

• Hymn 389 Freely, Freely

Ephesians 1:3-14        (Common English Bible)

3 Bless the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! He has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing that comes from heaven. 4 God chose us in Christ to be holy and blameless in God’s presence before the creation of the world. 5 God destined us to be his adopted children through Jesus Christ because of his love. This was according to his goodwill and plan 6 and to honor his glorious grace that he has given to us freely through the Son whom he loves. 7 We have been ransomed through his Son’s blood, and we have forgiveness for our failures based on his overflowing grace, 8 which he poured over us with wisdom and understanding. 9 God revealed his hidden design to us, which is according to his goodwill and the plan that he intended to accomplish through his Son. 10 This is what God planned for the climax of all times: to bring all things together in Christ, the things in heaven along with the things on earth. 11 We have also received an inheritance in Christ. We were destined by the plan of God, who accomplishes everything according to his design. 12 We are called to be an honor to God’s glory because we were the first to hope in Christ. 13 You too heard the word of truth in Christ, which is the good news of your salvation. You were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit because you believed in Christ. 14 The Holy Spirit is the down payment on our inheritance, which is applied toward our redemption as God’s own people, resulting in the honor of God’s glory.  X

*Matthew 28:11-20        (Common English Bible)

11 Now as the women were on their way, some of the guards came into the city and told the chief priests everything that had happened. 12 They met with the elders and decided to give a large sum of money to the soldiers. 13 They told them, “Say that Jesus’ disciples came at night and stole his body while you were sleeping. 14 And if the governor hears about this, we will take care of it with him so you will have nothing to worry about.” 15 So the soldiers took the money and did as they were told. And this report has spread throughout all Judea to this very day.

16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted. 18 Jesus came near and spoke to them, “I’ve received all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you. Look, I myself will be with you every day until the end of this present age.”  X

Shattered Expectations

• 8th Sunday after Pentecost

on Matthew 28:1-10 (Jesus’ resurrection)
and Acts 10:34-43 (Peter tells the gospel to Cornelius)

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• Today’s reading from Matthew is the resurrection story.
What is the good news?

• Mary & Mary visit the tomb. What is their expectation?
They came to grieve.
Same as why there are crosses along highway, and flowers and candles and gifts and tributes where people have died. 

Innumerable tributes of late.

Mary & Mary’s expectation? Sit. Grieve. Cry. Sing. Pray.
Not even to anoint the body (it’s already done, in Matthew 27).
Not to wonder about moving the stone (which is guarded).

Expectation shattered: angel descends, can’t miss it, guards become like dead men.Do not fear, Jesus isn’t here he’s been raised from the dead – hey, that’s good news, that’s gospel! Our friend isn’t dead – and he’ll see you in Galilee like he said earlier. Go and tell. They go to tell and Jesus meets them. They worship.

• Sometimes it’s in our grief that Jesus meets us.
The women showed up, and Jesus met them.

But to really plumb the depths of the good news,
we have to keep reading.

• Acts 10: Peter (a Jew, a disciple, an apostle.
What’s the last we heard from him in the gospel? Denying Jesus). 

Well in Acts he’s had a dream, a vision from God, and a Roman centurion, Cornelius, has a vision from God at the same time. They get together, and Peter explains the good news: there is forgiveness of sins in Jesus, who is Lord, who is Christ, who was empowered by the Holy Spirit, raised from the dead, and given authority over all by God.

Peter, a Jew and an apostle, his expectations are shattered. He didn’t expect God to work among the non-Jews, to invite them into the mighty works that God has been doing.

“I am learning that God doesn’t show partiality to one group of people or another.”

God also invites people who are not like me.

God is working beyond the circle of my understanding.
And like Peter, my job is to roll with it.

And God is looking for folks who will worship him and live in righteousness.

• Who can you live in righteousness for? Can you do it for someone else? Nope. For you.

My job is to follow Jesus, who was radically welcoming, who did not cling to rights or pride or ego but poured self out for benefit of others. Follow Jesus who defied borders between peoples and served, loved and served. And because of him we have forgiveness and reconciliation and new life and the hope of the promise that some day we won’t have to grieve. But until that day… we roll with it. We admit that our expectations may be off. We show up and seek God, in good times and bad. We worship and we do and we go and we tell.

• Hymn 304 Easter People Raise Your Voices
written by the Rev. William James, a UM pastor who founded a church in the Bronx in 1944 that grew to 900 in 8 years.
“During that time I learned to minister to gangs and street people.”

Acts 10:34-43        (Common English Bible)

34 Peter said, “I really am learning that God doesn’t show partiality to one group of people over another. 35 Rather, in every nation, whoever worships him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 36 This is the message of peace he sent to the Israelites by proclaiming the good news through Jesus Christ: He is Lord of all! 37 You know what happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism John preached. 38 You know about Jesus of Nazareth, whom God anointed with the Holy Spirit and endowed with power. Jesus traveled around doing good and healing everyone oppressed by the devil because God was with him. 39 We are witnesses of everything he did, both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, 40 but God raised him up on the third day and allowed him to be seen, 41 not by everyone but by us. We are witnesses whom God chose beforehand, who ate and drank with him after God raised him from the dead. 42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”  X

Matthew 28:1-10        (Common English Bible)

28 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the tomb, 2 and amazingly there was a great earthquake, for an angel from the Lord came down from heaven. Coming to the stone, he rolled it away and sat on it. 3 Now his face was like lightning and his clothes as white as snow. 4 The guards were so terrified of him that they shook with fear and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Don’t be afraid. I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He isn’t here, because he’s been raised from the dead, just as he said. Come, see the place where they laid him. 7 Now hurry, go and tell his disciples, ‘He’s been raised from the dead. He’s going on ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there.’ I’ve given the message to you.”

8 With both fear and great excitement, they hurried away from the tomb and ran to tell his disciples. 9 But Jesus met them and greeted them. They came and grabbed his feet and worshipped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Go and tell my brothers that I am going into Galilee. They will see me there.”  X

Community For God's Sake

• 6th Sunday after Pentecost

On Matthew 27:1-26, Judas returns the money and hangs himself. Jesus is sentenced to death.

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• There’s an old story of a farmer whose horse ran away (isn’t that horrible?) and came back with several wild horses (isn’t that great?)… It’s not necessarily easy or right to declare instances “good” or “bad”. Big picture is more accurate. And we don’t get the whole big picture.

I speak today on the mystery of the atonement.
On the one hand, today’s reading contains lots of bad news.
On other hand, that “bad news” is somehow part of God’s chosen means of salvation.

But what does that say about nature of God?

Therefore I say “mystery.” Somehow even in spite of humankind, salvation happens in event that we’re building up to.

• Issue of atonement aside, we have five pictures of people in this episode, four of them doing wrong when they know the right thing to do. I want to lift up one thing that would both help prevent such things and bring some healing and accountability. For God’s sake, it’s community. A group of like-minded people, both righteous and humble, and dispassionate. I’ll explain.

• Start with Judas. Yes, he had community, but he was lacking something (honesty, integrity? something.) (recall John 12:6 he would steal). Ya gotta be honest with community.

• The priests, they had community. But not humble. Blinded, off-track. Self-serving, they convinced themselves their deceitful actions were for the good of the whole.

• Pilate. Isolated by power, position. Alone and oddly powerless. He seeks to avoid responsibility, to appease the crowd.

• The people. Passionate – that is, mob mentality, not thinking reasonably.

• Claudia. One unnamed appearance in gospel, she does the right thing, but lacks power.

• Community, vital Christian community, like-minded, righteous, humble, dispassionate community. It was beginning of Methodism, it can strengthen, revitalize, grow churches now. People are isolated, seeking connection w/o judgment, needing accountability, place to share deeply. Get to know one another.

• And again, the mystery and grace of atonement.
Not entirely satisfactory to have Father premeditated violent substitutionary death,
also not entirely satisfactory to remove all aspects of substitutionary atonement.

Suffering servant from Isaiah 53 willing, plus the divine dialogue (http://wordsfrompk.blogspot.com/2015/04/a-divine-dialog.html).

Human response: wonder. Worship. And for God’s sake, be in community.

What wondrous love is this that caused the soul of bliss to bear the dreadful curse? And when from death I’m free I’ll sing on…

• Hymn 292 What Wondrous Love is This

Matthew 27:1-26        (CEB)

27 Early in the morning all the chief priests and the elders of the people reached the decision to have Jesus put to death. 2 They bound him, led him away, and turned him over to Pilate the governor.

3 When Judas, who betrayed Jesus, saw that Jesus was condemned to die, he felt deep regret.
He returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, and 4 said,
“I did wrong because I betrayed an innocent man.”

But they said, “What is that to us? That’s your problem.”
5 Judas threw the silver pieces into the temple and left. Then he went and hanged himself.

6 The chief priests picked up the silver pieces and said, “According to the Law it’s not right to put this money in the treasury. Since it was used to pay for someone’s life, it’s unclean.” 7 So they decided to use it to buy the potter’s field where strangers could be buried. 8 That’s why that field is called “Field of Blood” to this very day. 9 This fulfilled the words of Jeremiah the prophet: And I took the thirty pieces of silver, the price for the one whose price had been set by some of the Israelites, 10 and I gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.

11 Jesus was brought before the governor. The governor said, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

Jesus replied, “That’s what you say.” 12 But he didn’t answer when the chief priests and elders accused him.

13 Then Pilate said, “Don’t you hear the testimony they bring against you?”
14 But he didn’t answer, not even a single word. So the governor was greatly amazed.

15 It was customary during the festival for the governor to release to the crowd one prisoner, whomever they might choose. 16 At that time there was a well-known prisoner named Jesus Barabbas. 17 When the crowd had come together, Pilate asked them, “Whom would you like me to release to you, Jesus Barabbas or Jesus who is called Christ?” 18 He knew that the leaders of the people had handed him over because of jealousy.

19 While he was serving as judge, his wife sent this message to him,
“Leave that righteous man alone. I’ve suffered much today in a dream because of him.”

20 But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and kill Jesus.
21 The governor said, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?”

“Barabbas,” they replied.

22 Pilate said, “Then what should I do with Jesus who is called Christ?”

They all said, “Crucify him!”

23 But he said, “Why? What wrong has he done?”

They shouted even louder, “Crucify him!”

24 Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere and that a riot was starting. So he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I’m innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It’s your problem.”

25 All the people replied, “Let his blood be on us and on our children.”

26 Then he released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus whipped, then handed him over to be crucified.  X

Isaiah 53        (The Message)  

53 Who believes what we’ve heard and seen?
    Who would have thought God’s saving power would look like this?

2-6 The Servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling,
    a scrubby plant in a parched field.
There was nothing attractive about him,
    nothing to cause us to take a second look.
He was looked down on and passed over,
    a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.
One look at him and people turned away.
    We looked down on him, thought he was scum.
But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—
    our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.
We thought he brought it on himself,
    that God was punishing him for his own failures.
But it was our sins that did that to him,
    that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!
He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
    Through his bruises we get healed.
We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost.
    We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way.
And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong,
    on him, on him.

7-9 He was beaten, he was tortured,
    but he didn’t say a word.
Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered
    and like a sheep being sheared,
    he took it all in silence.
Justice miscarried, and he was led off—
    and did anyone really know what was happening?
He died without a thought for his own welfare,
    beaten bloody for the sins of my people.
They buried him with the wicked,
    threw him in a grave with a rich man,
Even though he’d never hurt a soul
    or said one word that wasn’t true.

10 Still, it’s what God had in mind all along,
    to crush him with pain.
The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin
    so that he’d see life come from it—life, life, and more life.
    And God’s plan will deeply prosper through him.

11-12 Out of that terrible travail of soul,
    he’ll see that it’s worth it and be glad he did it.
Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant,
    will make many “righteous ones,”
    as he himself carries the burden of their sins.
Therefore I’ll reward him extravagantly—
    the best of everything, the highest honors—
Because he looked death in the face and didn’t flinch,
    because he embraced the company of the lowest.
He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many,
    he took up the cause of all the black sheep.  X

Not My Will But Thine

• 4th Sunday after Pentecost

On Matthew 26:31-46, Jesus prays Not my will but thine

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• Jesus knows.
Knows what’s going to happen, knows what’s going on.
Chooses to go on in spite of personal pain.

• I had a wedding yesterday, Laura and Gary.
Marriage is a chosen re-ordering of life and priority.

One time a young teen asked if I liked being married
– obviously she did not have a good model to learn from.
We need good models to learn from.

Marriage is a chosen re-ordering of life and priority.

There is more at stake here than “me, myself, and I”.

What is good/enjoyable/desirable for ME
may not be so for US. (activity, purchase, etc.)

AND I gladly surrender because my love for US is greater.

I want to make my partner smile.

• In Christian marriage the covenant between Christ and church is shown.

In the garden, what Jesus wants is no suffering.
But he sets his will aside for relationship.
He could opt out, could satisfy himself.
He’s even currently abandoned by friends!
But he sets his will aside for relationship.

Early hearers would’ve recalled Abraham and Isaac.
Wait here while we go worship.

• Five powerful words for any disciple: Not my will but thine.

The episode in the garden is not written to shame the weak but to model Jesus and to demonstrate that God’s love and grace and presence is without fail.

Not my will but thine.
Could prevent a host of troubles, could strengthen relationship.
Basically, nothing bad happen, only good. Not my will but thine.

• Jesus is in deep sorrow: prays.
Jesus is abandoned by friends: prays. Keeps them in mind.

And result of prayer, of surrender: cool mind. Strength for task.

• Amazing Love (And Can It Be), by Charles Wesley. Read lyrics.

• Hymn 363 And Can it Be that I Should Gain by Charles Wesley

1. And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood!
Died he for me? who caused his pain! For me? who him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

2. 'Tis mystery all: the Immortal dies!
Who can explore his strange design?
In vain the firstborn seraph tries to sound the depths of love divine.
'Tis mercy all! Let earth adore; let angel minds inquire no more.

3. He left his Father's throne above (so free, so infinite his grace!),
emptied himself of all but love, and bled for Adam's helpless race.
'Tis mercy all, immense and free, for O my God, it found out me!

4. Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature's night;
thine eye diffused a quickening ray; I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
my chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and followed thee.

5. No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in him, is mine;
alive in him, my living Head, and clothed in righteousness divine,
bold I approach the eternal throne, and claim the crown, through Christ my own. 

Matthew 26:31-46        (Common English Bible)

31 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Tonight you will all fall away because of me. This is because it is written, I will hit the shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock will go off in all directions.[Zechariah 13:7]
32 But after I’m raised up, I’ll go before you to Galilee.”

33 Peter replied, “If everyone else stumbles because of you,
I’ll never stumble.”

34 Jesus said to him, “I assure you that, before the rooster crows tonight, you will deny me three times.”

35 Peter said, “Even if I must die alongside you, I won’t deny you.”
And all the disciples said the same thing.

36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane.
He said to the disciples, “Stay here while I go and pray over there.” 37 When he took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, he began to feel sad and anxious. 38 Then he said to them, “I’m overwhelmed with sorrow. It’s as if I’m dying. Stay here and keep alert with me.” 39 Then he went a short distance farther and fell on his face and prayed, “My Father, if it’s possible, take this cup of suffering away from me. However—not what I want but what you want.”

40 He came back to the disciples and found them sleeping.
He said to Peter, “Couldn’t you stay alert one hour with me?
41 Stay alert and pray so that you won’t give in to temptation.
The spirit is eager, but the flesh is weak.” 42 A second time he went away and prayed, “My Father, if it’s not possible that this cup be taken away unless I drink it, then let it be what you want.”

43 Again he came and found them sleeping. Their eyes were heavy with sleep. 44 But he left them and again went and prayed the same words for the third time. 45 Then he came to his disciples and said to them, “Will you sleep and rest all night? Look, the time has come for the Son of Man to be betrayed into the hands of sinners.
46 Get up. Let’s go. Look, here comes my betrayer.”  X

Philippians 2:5-11        (Common English Bible)    

5 Adopt the attitude that was in Christ Jesus:

6 Though he was in the form of God,
        he did not consider being equal with God something to exploit.
7 But he emptied himself
        by taking the form of a slave
        and by becoming like human beings.
When he found himself in the form of a human,
8         he humbled himself by becoming obedient
          to the point of death, even death on a cross.
9 Therefore, God highly honored him
        and gave him a name above all names,
10     so that at the name of Jesus everyone in heaven,
        on earth, and under the earth might bow
11         and every tongue confess
            that Jesus Christ is Lord,
            to the glory of God the Father.     X

On Unity - by Bishop Sandra Steiner Ball

Originally posted by Bishop Sandra Steiner Ball (@BishopSandraSteinerBall) on her Facebook page, 6/8/16, 9am. Paragraph numbers added by Kerry Bart.

ON UNITY

1| The Gospel of John records Jesus's farewell prayer for the disciples on the night before he was crucified. He said: “I do not pray for these only (meaning the twelve who were gathered in the room with him, the first disciples), but for those who believe in me through their word (meaning all of us who are heirs of the faith through the ripples of evangelism and witness cast forth from the first disciples), that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

2| There is a saying long attributed to John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, that has appeared frequently in Methodist writings through the years, “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; and, in all things, charity.” Some claim this saying originally came from a man named Meldenius, who wrote it during the religious wars in Europe in the 17th century.

3| Whoever originally penned it, the saying is a basic guide for those who believe we can do more for the kingdom of God together than we can do individually. 

4| This saying was used in England, in John Wesley’s time, as an antidote to the religious wars that had ravaged the country. In the 18th century, religious people fighting and killing one another was still a painful and living memory. The people were sick of religious wars. That is why this aphorism became so popular. But Wesley used this phrase not only to refer to the religious wars, but also to express his concern about division in the early Methodist movement. Our present day is not the first time that Methodists have had different, competing thoughts and ideas. In early Methodism factions emerged among the leadership within the societies. People identified as Calvinist, Moravian, or Arminian Methodists and there were significant serious differences among these perspectives. These theological differences have never really gotten resolved and have led to differing perspectives in our present Methodist ecclesiastical house. I believe that Wesley realized that for the sake of unity, meaning the unity of which Jesus speaks and which is given as a gift of God, it is necessary to decide whether doctrines or relationships should become essentials. 

5| “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; and, in all things charity.” 

6| Out of the same revulsion to religious division, and in the same century, the founders of this country insured the separation of church and state in the Constitution, so that the state would never use its arms on any side of a religious struggle. This country’s European ancestors/founders remembered religious wars where people were killed over differing religious beliefs. They recognized what terror could result from strongly held competing religious beliefs. In our time both at home and around the world terror continues to occur because of competing religious ideologies. 

7| Our Wesleyan belief in grace, specifically perfecting grace, tells us that God’s dynamic love works through change and becoming. Instead of God looking at the world and condemning all of us who are sinners, saying, “No, you are not part of me because you have sinned/are sinning,” God sent Jesus, Love in perfect form, to show us sinners that God is not done with us yet! Additionally, Jesus tells us to go and share the Good News that God is not done with anyone yet. We are called to tell people – even in the midst of difference – that God has given, and that God’s gift and God’s desire for all creation is to be in unity through grace and love. The unity that Jesus speaks of is not an act of human will or tolerance; it is the idea that God’s dynamic love works through transformation and is given by and is a gift of God.

8| Religion, or at least the practice of Christian religion, is not meant to divide or to harm or to tear people down or to kill people. The purpose of religious practice is to build people up, to lift people high, and to give people hope and life.

9| Lately, there has been much conversation in The United Methodist Church about what divides us, especially when it comes to the topic of human sexuality. There has been talk among some of schism, of dividing the Church over the particular issues that divide this country – many of those issues being the “isms” of this world. There is disagreement, and in the midst of the fear and defensiveness that often comes from disagreement some people actually push for the church to divide into groups of like-minded people and form various homogeneous communities, where everyone thinks alike and acts alike. But to take that action would be unfaithful in light of Jesus’ prayer. Jesus prayed that we might all be one. The unity of God’s people with God and with one another was the top thing on Jesus’ mind, the top priority of his life, even in his very last hours of life as he made his journey to the cross. Jesus did not make this journey to stand against something or to protect something, but to be the bridge for God’s perfecting power of love and grace.

10| For United Methodists, as followers of Christ, we need to recognize: what really are the essentials? One essential we believe in as United Methodists is that each of us is a holy, beloved, and valuable child of God. We all are created in God’s image. We are all pursued, accepted, and covered by the unbounded love of God’s grace. No one of us is better than another. This is the unity we are given by God. It is part of the divine purpose and is present as God is present. It is more powerful than our thoughts, our theologies, or our actions which divide. It cannot be overcome or denied. We have all received grace upon grace. When we divide ourselves we are only turning our backs to the unity that is all around us, the unity in which we live in spite of our limited awareness.

11| A second essential to understand is that none of us is perfect. That contributes to our limited awareness. We are all sinners saved by grace. None of us has all the truth. None of us sees or understands perfectly. Sometimes we want to cast out evil, when that is God’s job and not ours. If we would seek all for Christ, we can trust that in midst of changing and becoming, ours and theirs, God’s transforming power and love will cast out the evil in all of us in whatever form that evil may take. All of us now see ourselves through a clouded mirror, through a lens that has been damaged by fear, hurt, or hopelessness. The distortion of our sight is exacerbated by our biases and prejudices. We must confess that and seek God’s more excellent way.

12| As we seek God’s more excellent way, a third essential is that we follow Jesus to the best of our conscience, wisdom, knowledge, and with as much passion and energy as we have. And, knowing that each person is created as we are, in the image of God, we must seek to see, hear, and know the divine image in the other person while hoping to be a conduit, a revelation, of God’s Spirit contained in the divine image within us. An essential is to be intentional in our work of “having the mind of Christ.”

13| These are the things I believe Wesley put forth as the essentials. Wesley thought if we could be united in these efforts and beliefs, then in other things we could trust God and allow liberty, so that in all things we could be charitable and gracious with one another.

14| I believe that the Church must operate in this way, with these essentials in mind, not only for its own sake but also for the sake of the advancement of God’s mission, ministry, and saving efforts for the world. The prayer of Jesus is that the world would be one, so the world may believe. It is for the world that we must be united. If the religious communities fight within and among themselves, then how can the world be saved? Our mission is to show a better way. Our mission is to show that in this God-given world of wonderful diversity, there is a better way of handling differences, disagreements, and differing opinions among human beings. God sent God’s son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that the world would have life through him. God’s rescue plan and life-saving mission in and through Jesus Christ gave us a prayer, a prayer that I believe expresses God’s deepest yearning and deepest hope. “I pray that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe.” X

Bishop Steiner Ball's essay ends here.

A quick review by Kerry:

"In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; and, in all things charity." (paragraph 5)

What is "essential"? (paragraph 10)

One, all are created in God's image (paragraph 10)

Two, no one is perfect, and no one has perfect understanding (paragraph 11)

Three, we must follow Jesus to the best of our ability (paragraph 12)

"The prayer of Jesus is that the world would be one, so the world may believe. It is for the world that we must be united." (paragraph 14)