LINKS to other Sermons

Sermon Archives

CONTENTS

In Memory of Jean M. Lamond
A Sermon on Matthew 25:31-40
December 13, 1997

"Who Me?"
"Come you that have been blessed by God!"
"Who? "
"Surely not me!" we all think & turn around to look for someone who looks blessed.

It's like that old camp game: Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar? . . . Who me? Couldn't be. Then who? . . . Must be you.

"Come you that have been blessed by God!"
"Who me? "
"You," the voice repeats, "you that have been blessed by God. You who gave me food when I was hungry and drink when I was thirsty; you who saw my need and welcomed me and clothed me; you who cared for me when I was sick and visited me in prison."

Someone in the courts of heaven turns and asks, "You don't mean me -- When did I do any of that for you?"
"Come, blessed one."
"Who me?" She says.
"Yes, you Jean Marion Lamond -- You who have been blessed by God. Truly I tell, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me. You went to those who hungered for acceptance and you prepared for them banquets of affirmation. You saw those who thirsted for attention and you listened. You welcomed the outcasts, the "unacceptable" people on the margins of society and you respected their goodness and giftedness. Those who were stripped defenseless before the world you covered with your love. The hurting and sick knew your healing touch, and you visited many who were imprisoned in lonely dark closets and some of us you even released into a world of rainbow colors.. In loving my people, Christ says, you have loved me."

* * *

Many people spend their lives looking for God in churches and in holy places. Jean spent her life loving, affirming, and touching the lives of the people she met. I ask you: Who is it that found Christ? Who is it that served Christ?

In her love for others, Jean not only was loving and serving Christ hidden in God's people. She was also proclaiming God's good news wherever she went. The good news, the gospel message -- that we are loved.

The essence of the Christian faith is quite simple: God loves you.

That good news is difficult for many of us to hear from a church that all-too-often seems to have rejected many of us. But we heard it from Jean: We heard that we are loveable. She, in her own special way, brought God's message into our lives. And; you know what the Bible's word for messenger is -- "angel."

Jean was God's special angel telling those who felt unworthy and unlovable "And you know ... that's okay" Affirming individuality, validating feelings, loving unconditionally. Did you hear the Angel Jean's message -- the good news? You are loved.

God loves you absolutely, joyfully, unconditionally, overwhelmingly, no matter what -- regardless of what the world says, or the church implies, and even when you feel least loveable.

* * *

Yeah, sure, you may be thinking: So, where's the good news today? Jean is dead. The angel who loved us is gone. If this is how God shows her love, I don't want any part of it.

Jean was part of so many of our lives, an integral part for many, part of the process of many people's becoming and growing. The process isn't complete and we're left hanging in empty space.

Part of me wants to shout at God: "Hey, You, we needed this woman!" And I still feel left hanging . . . We put up the Christmas stockings. We keep peeking inside. And it's still empty. We long to hear Jean's laughter as she tucks little gifts inside for each of us. And there is only silence.

So much for angel-messengers and good news. But listen again: Hear the whisper? "Balance and peace" -- an angelic message for us -- Jean's customary signature line.

But these gifts don't just fall into our laps. What falls into our laps is the aching emptiness of missing someone we love. Hear the echo? "Balance and peace." When this life hands us pain or emptiness God has given us the ability to make something of it. That's what the cross does -- takes the pain, even death & creates new life.

We're not going to "have" a good day or "have" peace, especially now. We are asked to follow Jesus' path: to take the painful parts of life and create something new. Hear the echoes of another angelic message? "Create a peaceful day." It's not going to happen by itself; we need to do our share to make it happen..

Jean had a gift -- the ability to affirm and empower others so that we are able to act -- to believe that we could create some peace in our lives. to take the miserable hard knocks of life and to create the peace and joy we long for. She saw what we often could not: that each of us has been blessed and loved by God.

Now her life has been transformed into a new life a life of joy and peace beyond our wildest imagination. So perhaps since she doesn't need it anymore, Jean has left us her gift -- dare we hope that we might do that for one another affirm and empower one another? Has Jean taught our hearts to love?

She's left us an abundance of treasured memories and, I think, a quite practical guide for being angels (messengers) of God's love. Someone found in on her refrigerator -- (after all that's where we go when we're hungry and need to be fed).

* * *

A Prayer attributed to St. Francis

Lord, make us instruments of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let us sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is discord, union;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.

* * *

There's one here for each of us to take with us -- a gift from our special angel: something to fit into those lonely, empty spaces when they catch us by surprise, maybe even to tuck into your hanging-empty Christmas stocking. Maybe you'll even hear an angel laughing.

In the middle of the tears and the laughter, pause and listen: Can you hear it? -- that whispered message: "And you know . . . that's okay. You have been blessed by God."

Who me?
Yes -- you!

Go back to CONTENTS


Jean

She held doors open
that others would shut
she would listen intently
while others played deaf
she gave you the option
of silence or speech
and pulled you nearer to her heart
farther from pain
She had something that few people posess
the ability to turn the difficult into the manageable
She probably never understood the word selfish
When I walked alone
She led me
holding my hand
in the world where I had difficulty existing
she took my heart
and showed it how to love
Someone who has always been an angel to me
Jean is touching us all
always.

JMH 12-11-97

Go back to CONTENTS

A Sermon for the Feast of Christ the King
The Rev. James D. Larson, Guest Preacher

 This is the Feast of Christ the King. My sermon topic will be on honoring this great King of Kings through prayer. The Apostle Paul, in I Tim., chapter 6, calls Christ God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Over the millennia, many have called themselves King, or some word meaning that. But none can be mentioned in the same breath as Christ the King.

Shelley, in one of his sonnets, speaks of meeting a traveler. This traveler had been across the desert, where he found a broken statue of a man. Only some legs and part of the face remaining, plus the base. And on that base was the legend: "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings. Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair." Ozymandias had a lot of gall, didn't he? King of kings, indeed, when all that was left of him was that broken statue. And, if any works remained, nobody knew of them. We know who the real King of Kings is. Let me talk to you about prayer, as a means of communicating directly with this Ruler of the Universe, Whose works really do remain.

PRAYER, THE MINISTRY FOR EVERYONE OF ALL AGES.

In EPH. 6:18-20, Paul the Apostle wrote to the Ephesian Christians. If you were to read a few verses more than these, say chapter 6, verses 10-20, you would find instructions for putting on the Whole Armor of God. And here, in these famous verses, is how Paul remembered what the Holy Spirit led him to understand about how we, as Christians, are to find the means of living like Christians. You have all heard this before, but it may be you have not thought about a Ministry in these Bible verses.But listen: "...And pray in the Spirit on all occasions, with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Pray also me (Paul writes)that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it it fearlessly, as I should."

Here is Paul asking you to pray for him and, get this, here is the directive to pray for YOUR pastor. Your priest. Yes! Let me tell you this, and I believe I am speaking to you in the spirit of the Lord: A pastor in trouble--trouble of just about any kind you can think of--is a pastor not being prayed for as he or she should be.(repeat)

This is a ministry for YOU. Yes, a ministry. There is nobody alive today who cannot pray. You may be asked: What is your ministry? And you could answer: My ministry is upholding God's servants before God, praying hard for them that they may have holy wisdom, great authority in their pastoral duties, and peace in their hearts, knowing their congregation is praying for them.

THAT, dear ones, is what I will call your prayer imperative: To pray for your priest and, in fact, all the pastors in your community. I can tell you this much: None of them, I mean absolutely NONE of the pastors you know, is being prayed for the way they ought to be. Ladies and gentlemen, what may be the most important ministry you could ever have, perhaps the most important ministry in the whole world, is here at your feet. If you are seeking to serve God, this is how.

What else? I cannot stress too much the power you have been given in praying. You can change things in this community that ought to be changed. You can speak to God about the things that are wrong, people who are amiss, and change the face of your town. Absolutely. And MORE than your town. Dare I say it: The nation. Example: Susan and I both pray every night that the Lord put the fear of God in the hearts of all those in high places--in government, in military, in finance. Perhaps especially in finance, where are found the rulers of much of the world today.

Don't stop, but go on in prayer for each other, for friends, family, and everyone you know here and all whom the Lord puts upon your hearts to pray for. In fact, there are people within your knowledge that nobody, I mean nobody, is praying for at all, anywhere.

Susan could talk to you abut prayer better than I can. Ask her sometime about her great-aunt Bernice, a 105-year-old prayer warrior.

Back to big Paul. Take the time to read Colosians 1:9-12. Yes, here is Paul telling us all some things we should be praying for when we pray for each other: knowledge of God's holy will, among other things; enough strength to meet whatever comes along in life, and then, sort of in the same breath, Paul reminds us to give thanks to God for all those blessings He has given to YOU.

Is it not a wonderful thing to have a ministry--one you can perform at any time of day, even in the middle of the night when you cannot sleep? As you pray, you will find that eventually God will start putting more and more prayers on your heart, more and more people to pray for. It is no small thing, this ministry of prayer.

I am not here this morning to tell you HOW to pray. Many of you know more about that than I do. It would be good, sometime, to have some short classes on praying. Let me simply say for now, that when you pray for someone or some thing, do NOT presume to give God advice on how to solve a problem or fix someone's life. That is what Oswald Cambers calls "Amateur Providence." I am sometimes afraid to ask people for prayer, knowing they will give me advice instead and never actually pray for me at all. That's discouraging.

But remember that you just might be better at prayer than a thousand other people. Remember, too, that just because you are just one little person, does not mean that you cannot tackle some really BIG prayer objects, including God's directing our national leaders. You may say to yourself, "I could never do that, God does not mean little old me." But he does. He turns to those who are reliant upon Him and not upon their own devices and talents and money, to do His priority jobs.

Also, don't worry about God being too busy for you. Never! Remember, God does not have to work within the limitations of time, as we know it. He can be in and out of time as He wishes. You stand or kneel or sit or lie before the Great Father in Heaven and call upon Him. This Creator of all the universe then says, to all the clamoring, singing and praising Courts of Heaven: Hush, Char is speaking; Quiet, Max has the floor! God can listen to a billion or more people at once in that way, never taxed beyond His ability, never having to actually divide His attention.

There are many more Scriptural directives to pray, some of them reminding us that we need not be regarded as Super-Christians to pray. In fact, I'm sure you remember Cornelius, a Roman of all things. He prayed, and look what happened. He got the Apostle Peter, himself, to make a house call.

Jesus, in His unapproachable glory as King of Kings, left behind Him an eternal kingdom, of which you, a saint, are a citizen and have absolute throne-room rights. Christ the King sits on the eternal throne of all the universe. He also has the right to the throne of your heart. He has the right to the throne of your heart without rival. Many have given their lives at the command of an earthly king. We must give our hearts, our lives to Jesus, the King of Kings, the blessed and only Potentate and Lord of Lords,. Lord of Lords and King of Kings, rule supremely on the throne of my life.

Close: MAY GOD HIMSELF, THE GOD OF PEACE, MAKE YOU HOLY THROUGH AND THROUGH. HE WHO CALLS YOU KEEPS FAITH; HE WILL DO IT. THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST BE WITH YOU ALL.

Go back to CONTENTS

A Sermon for the Twenty-sixth Sunday after Pentecost
The Rev. Patricia A. Gillespie

Daniel 12:1-13
Psalm 16
Hebrews 10:31-39
Mark 13:14-23

Change?


You want this church to grow? -- to bring in more people, more money?

Then things have gotta change.
We can fill this church all day on Sunday and every day of the week. And we can fill our bank accounts at the same time. But we gotta change to do it. We talked about change -- about getting a couple of pew cushions. That's not enough. People want more. We need to get rid of the pews and put in chairs. It's more flexible, so we can do more and people will be more comfortable.

And we've talked about the organ -- about the problems it has and about plans to talk more about it. That's not enough. People want more excitement. We need something multimedia that we can run from a computer for limitless variety. Not only a state of the art sound system but video capability as well with a large screen monitor. (Don't worry. It's guaranteed to pay for itself in the first seven weeks.) We'll get rid of the choir stalls for better visibility and hang the screen from the reredos over the altar.

We can provide each individual reclining seat with interactive controls for a virtual reality experience.

Every day from six in the morning till two we'll offer power investment interactive seminars. We'll put the stock market up on the screen and have Internet banking access connections in each individual seat. If you're feeling lucky, visit our virtual casino. We'll offer fine wine and gourmet snacks.

In the afternoon, from two to eight we'll have intergenerational interactive sports events. We'll have the biggest youth group in town! New virtual reality sports teams that you control from your own seat -- play the sport of your choice against the pros and win. With one move of your mouse you can move the Twins to Calcutta and then back again. Pop and candy for the kids, beer and cigars for the adults, and pizza for everyone.

Then till midnight it's fantasy battle time on multiple screens over the altar. Demolish your enemies. Search out and destroy space aliens. Then resurrect them and do it again. Annihilate whole cities from the interactive privacy of your individual seat while being served with mixed drinks form the bar in the sacristy.

Then what else do we need to attract people? Of course ... Once the kids are out of the way, at midnight we bring in the triple x shows - virtual reality sex on the big screen . . . .

I tell you, we can fill this church.

And Jesus said "When you see the desolating sacrilege set up where it ought not to be . . . "

* * * * *

Our readings today are weird. And scary. We want to say as Daniel did: "I heard but could not understand."

How can we in a nation that still calls itself "Christian" understand the suffering of religious persecution? How can we understand how the faithful Jewish people felt when the foreign government put their own statues in the temple and required that they be worshiped?

Imagine the scene I just pictured for you and your own rebellion against it. (At least I hope there would be some rebellion -- One of my daughters asked what I'd say to the person who after the service asked me how soon we could do it. And my sixteen-year-old son's initial reaction when he'd read halfway through and got to the part about "individual interactive controls for a virtual reality experience" was "In Sauk Centre? -- No way!" He didn't come to the "absolutely not" reaction until he got to the sex part.)

Imagine that you say that "absolutely not" and then the police walk in and insist, saying not only will the virtual reality temple of the cultural gods be set up here, but we will all be required to attend or make our choice between execution or exile. That's the situation our readings come from.

Flee to the mountains. In such a situation we too might write weird symbolic apocalyptic end-time stories. For those who take the Christian faith seriously, it would become a time of anguish and suffering as never before.

Or maybe not. For us as for the Jews of Daniel's time or for the persecuted Christians the cultural gods can be very appealing. They seem to offer a lot.

Most Americans worship them in one form or another. Our cultural Pantheon: Sex. Money. Violence. Sports. Not that in and of themselves those things are bad. (At least not if we rename "violence" as a manifestation of "power") They all can be part of what makes life good.

The problem is when we set them up as God. When they rule our lives we are facing idolatry, which is biblical sin number one: Remember? "You shall have no other gods before me"

Today's psalm reminds us that "those who run after other gods shall have their troubles multiplied.."

So how're you doing? Do you feel like your trouble's multiplied? Power, Sex, Competition, Money Which other god's temple did you visit this week maybe even more often than you visited the God we come here to worship? I confess that I spent a fair amount of time worrying about my finances maybe even more time than I spent in prayer.

Where do you go to make life worth living? What makes you most alive, most yourself?

When the advertisers and promoters say to you "Here, this will make you happy. Look! This will solve all your problems." "Do not believe it. False messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce signs and omens, to lead astray, if possible the elect."

Perhaps we think won't be fooled by any false messiahs or cultural gods. We won't put any other gods before our God.

"Be alert," Jesus says. Look around you and consider: Where do you turn first for security -- to the bank or to God? Where do you turn first for joy -- sex, football, or prayer? Where do you turn first for affirmation -- winning or worship?

Money, sex, competition, power. They're good folks, but false gods. Use them to God's glory, but don't let them rule your life. That's God's place.

"Be alert," Jesus tells us. False prophets and false gods surround us. Jesus then adds "I have already told you everything."
Here it is: (Hold up Bible)
Do we listen?


* * * * *


The Collect:
Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Go back to CONTENTS


Return or go somewhere new!