Gathering

PRELUDE

CONGREGATIONAL WELCOME

CONFESSIONS and FORGIVENESS

Gathering Song          “Lift High the Cross”         red book # 660

GREETING

KYRIE          red book page 98 (set 1)

PRAYER of the DAY

Word

GENESIS 12:1-4a

PSALM 121

ROMANS 4:1-5, 13-17

JOHN 3:1-17

SERMON           Pastor Chris Halverson

Blessed to be a blessing

For these 5 Sundays of Lent, we’re going to, at least in a broad-brush stroke kind of way, tell the overarching story of the first Testament
—Hebrew Scripture.

As I said last week, the first 11 chapters of Genesis (the History before History) are pulling we the reader to chapter twelve, pulling us to the promises of God made to Abraham and his family…

God promises them Land, Descendants, and Prosperity…

If an economist was to describe these blessings, they might call it “Land, Labor, and Capital.”

Or, if a therapist was describing them, they might call ‘em “the cause and ground of bad behavior and maladaptive family system dynamics.”

What I’m saying is, while God gives these gifts to Abraham and his kin-folk to be a blessing
—in fact, the whole underlying point is that God blesses them to be a blessing to others—declaring the world good through them,
—yet things fall apart rather quickly…

In fact, this is as good a time as any to remind you all that just because you find something in the Bible, doesn’t mean it is to be emulated, doesn’t mean the thing is good or right… sometimes bad examples are more instructive than good ones!

While scripture tells a better story about God and God’s intentions for the world, as we looked at last week, it still is decidedly realistic about the human condition.

I remember in 4^th grade when all the Church of the Nazarene children were describing the bible to me as having God’s perfect plan and being filled with nothing but uplifting stories
—I sat down and started to read it cover to cover—got about a third of the way through the book of Numbers and was so scandalized I had to stop!

You get all these moralizers complaining about rap music and video games, Hollywood and half-time shows
—they don’t hold a candle to this family we follow in Genesis, Abraham and his kin… it’s got everything: sex, Violence, incest, sibling rivalries, and murderous fathers—this is Game of Thrones level stuff! All you need is dragons and ice zombies!

But Genesis is ultimately about God’s promise
—I bless you so that you might be a blessing—this promise we read here in chapter 12—God’s promises, and o’ so human responses…

-With Abraham and his extended family there is an attempt at faithfulness—an opening negotiation of relationship with this God…

-With Jacob we get a trickster who constantly tests the promises of God—what would it take to break what God has offered my family? Truly an unfaithful response.

-Then, there is Joseph—God is continually faithful, even in the cruelest times, ever faithful—in Joseph’s story we see the promise redeemed.

Abraham’s attempt, Jacob’s testing, Joseph’s redemption. That is the story of God’s promise, blessed to be a blessing.

Prayer

Abraham is the first to hear God’s promise and receive God’s blessing. Land, Family, Prosperity…

He goes, immediately!
—and I don’t think most of us can truly understand what he is giving up
—he is willingly becoming a Sojourner, no longer under the house and protection of his extended family
—there is such risk in this, and yet immediately he sets off
—what faith, what trust, truly a courageous and good response to God’s blessing…

Yet he sets off, and ends up in Egypt—he takes a detour…
you see, this becomes the see-saw relationship between he and God
—Abraham endangers the blessing
and God heightens the promise.

-He leaves the promised land—God reminds him of his blessing.

-He decides his nephew Lot (God help us) will be his heir, then his servant Eliazar of Damascus will be his heir, not whoever God has in mind—God reminds him of his blessing.

-Abraham rapes Hagar and makes Ishmael his son and heir—God reminds him of his blessing

-God shows up and promises a son—Sarah, Abraham’s wife, laughs. God reminds him of his blessing.

-Eventually they have a son, Isaac—and the next thing you know, Abraham attempts to take the life of his first son, Ishmael and his mother Hagar… God sees what an evil thing Abraham has done to her and her family and expands the blessing, blessing Hagar and her son Ishmael.
-Then Abraham tries to take his second son, Isaac’s, life! Such a scary action that it kill’s Sarah…

Then you have Isaac—he’s passive the whole time
—I swear whatever Abraham ended up doing on the mount of sacrifice never really left Isaac… All he is able to do is re-digs some wells his father had neglected, marries Rebecca, and then they plays favorites with their two sons.

Their two sons, Esau and Jacob…
Jacob, who steals the blessing of prosperity by trick, who ruins every familial relationship he runs across, and who is driven out of the land because of his trickster nature—Prosperity, Family, Land—all won and lost based on his unfaithfulness, yet still left standing on the basis of God’s promise.
In fact, God gives Jacob a new name, Israel, and with that new name a new claim to the promise.

Then finally we reach the story of Jacob/Israel’s son Joseph, who awkwardly
—arrogantly even
—describes to his family how the blessing is his
—the story, too, of his brothers leaving him to die in a well and telling a lie to their father about his death
His brothers go on to commit genocide on account of a Romeo and Juliet type situation between their sister and a local guy
…the story of Joseph’s continual humiliation and rise
—sold into slavery, blessed.
Imprisoned, blessed.
Forced to perform the impossible for Pharaoh, blessed.

Eventually things work out such that he gets to see his family again, even his dying father, Jacob—they are able to reconcile, they all are blessed on account of him…
In fact, Genesis ends with Jacob relinquishing a final blessing of prosperity to his children, the family all together at Jacob’s deathbed, the family buying a plot of land—owning land in the promised land for the first time—prosperity, family, land…

BUT

At the same time,
-Their prosperity is attached to Pharaoh’s good pleasure.
-Their family is together free… but along the way Joseph created the institution of debt-slavery, which will come back to bite their descendants in the book of Exodus…
-and while there is a tomb in the promised land, the people are all in Egypt.

God’s promise is that his people are blessed to be a blessing—often poorly done,          yet even in this messiness…
-Abraham the Sojourner finds a home,
the barren Sarah a child,
Hagar and Ishmael, cast away yet land in God’s loving arms, blessed as well.

-Jacob the trickster with a bad reputation given a good name!

-Joseph an arrogant dreamer who is humbled.
A truly messed up family, given a chance to forgive each other before their father dies.

Blessed to be a blessing.

Amen.

HYMN of the DAY            “There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy”          red book # 588

APOSTLES CREED

PRAYERS of INTERCESSION

PEACE                 

Meal

OFFERING

OFFERTORY ANTHEM            “A Clean Heart”

GREAT THANKSGIVING

A MOMENT of THANKFUL REFLECTION

LORD’S PRAYER       

COMMUNION SONGS          “Lamb of God”

Also, red book # 632, red book # 631

Sending

BLESSING

ANNOUNCEMENTS

SENDING SONG            “In the Cross of Christ I Glory”          red book # 324

DISMISSAL

POSTLUDE

Gathering

PRELUDE

CONGREGATIONAL WELCOME

CONFESSIONS and FORGIVENESS

Gathering Song          “O Lord, throughout These Forty Days”         red book # 319

GREETING

KYRIE             red book page 98 (set 1)

PRAYER of the DAY

Word

GENESIS 2:15-17; 3:1-7                                             

PSALM 32

ROMANS 5:12-19

MATTHEW 4:1-11                                                          

SERMON                  Pastor Chris Halverson

Telling a Truer Story

In today’s Gospel we read about two competing stories, the devil’s “If/Then” story and Jesus’, “Because/therefore” story.

The devil’s story he is telling Jesus is that Jesus has to earn his Sonship—that Jesus’ Heavenly Father will only acknowledge that relationship if…

If you transform stones to bread, then you are God’s son…

if you temp angels by throwing yourself off a high point, then I will be your Father,

and if you conquer the world, by whatever means necessary—even worshipping the devil—then my inheritance is yours!
If/then.

But Jesus tells another story—Jesus tells a better story in Matthew’s Gospel—because/therefore…

because his is the Son of God, therefore he will feed the 5,000, the 4,000, and the 12 at table—feed them with the bread of life.

Because he is God’s beloved son, therefore he will reach the heights by preaching the sermon on the mount, be transformed on the mount of transfiguration, and die on mount Calvary.

Because he is God’s heir, therefore he will teach and tell parables about his Kingdom, and it shall have no end!

And here’s the thing—Jesus isn’t the first to tell a better story
—in fact God’s people have been telling a better story from the beginning.

In these five Sundays of Lent, we’re going to, at least in a broad-brush stroke kind of way, tell the overarching story of the first Testament—Hebrew Scripture. Tell of:
-the History Before History,
-God’s calling to the Patriarchs and Matriarchs,
-God’s ongoing provision to his people during their wilderness wanderings,
-the drama of the Kingly era,
-and finally the prophetic hope the people held onto even in Exile in Babylon.

Not the whole story, for sure, but a thread that is intimately woven into the story of Jesus, whose death and resurrection we prepare for.

Prayer

The first 11 chapters of Genesis are the history before history, the prologue, the set up
—the weight of the book is on Abraham and those who come after him, that’s the focus… but the poets and priests putting together the story of God
—these faithful folk telling a better story,
telling a truer story
—were captive together in Babylon, far from home,
with nothing but a pen and their God to get them through in the hostile and bitter land…
a land where they were constantly bombarded, saturated, constantly told tales that were, “if/then” tales.

1. “In the beginning there was grave violence among the gods, the world was created and is sustained by subjugation and terror, tearing a monster to piece is the only way this world exists at all…
   ifwe continue conquering, subjugating all before us,
   then some stability and peace may be bought with blood and sustained upon the back of those not like us.”

To this the Hebrews responded, “No! There is a better story! God created with a word, no struggle, only goodness!
Because God created the world and declared it good,
Therefore, there is enough, we are enough, we are blessed.”

2. “The gods created humans as slaves, humans to work themselves to death producing sacrifice for the gods.
   ifwe follow the practices of the gods and force those weaker than us to labor without rest
   then we too are like gods, knowing good and evil.”

To this the Hebrews replied (as we see in today’s reading), “No! There is a better story! God created a gentle world with limits to labor, and the joys of family and relationships. The world as it is, is off kilter on account of human hubris and disobedience—this isn’t as it should be.
Because God gave us a good garden and relationships,
Therefore, our oppressor’s evil practices are not good—they are fallen.

3. “We Babylonians, because we live in cities, fed by unending agricultural achievement, are the height of humanity, all other peoples who do not submit to our urban empire are lost and hardly human. If you don’t believe it, look to our mighty towers, the Ziggurat, proof of our greatness!
   Ifwe impose our ways upon these backwards shepherds,
   Then, the whole world will embrace our technological wonder, and be uplifted, or at least look up at our grand buildings, our architectural achievements.

Again, the Hebrews respond, “No! Haven’t you heard, the first murder was predicated on this kind of thinking—Abel the shepherd was killed by his settled farmer brother Cain, who went on to founded the first city, and all of this eventually led to the towers of Babylon… oops, I mean the tower of babel…
Because, God’s blessing and ongoing faithful is what determines greatness and goodness,
Therefore, we can take or leave any particular human arrangement and assumptions about greatness and hold onto God’s blessing alone.

4. “When humans rebelled against the gods they were all drowned, except for one particularly strong and crafty guy, Gilgamesh, who seduced a goddess to find the date at which the deluge would begin, and kept himself alive. When the flood was finished, the gods realized they would starve without we human slaves, so when Gilgamesh made a sacrifice, the gods swarmedthe meal like flies, in fact their shimmering fly wings were the first rainbow!
   If we impose our will upon others and are a particularly strong and crafty people,
   Then, we are descendants of Gilgamesh and godlike, a unique people.”

And one final time the Hebrews tell a truer tale, “No! God is not a god of violence, in fact, the rainbow signifies that, he has put away all violence! For that matter, Noah’s sons fill all the earth; ultimately we are all siblings, all one humanity.
Because, God always strives to stay with us, even in our unfaithfulness
Therefore, violence isn’t the way of the world and all the earth shall be blessed!”

Faced with strange stories of all sorts, If/Then stories, oppressing, violent, enslaving, arrogant, exclusive, stories…
God’s people told better stories,
stories truer to the God who continued to be faithful to them, stories that allowed them to survive and to continue to trust in God.
Because/therefore stories, stories of liberation, kindness and courage, peace, humility, and inclusion.

I pray that we people of God too, faced with plenty of bad stories, if/then stories
tell better stories,
stories that describe the God who is always faithful, because/therefore stories.

Amen.

HYMN of the DAY             “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me”         red book # 325

APOSTLES CREED

PRAYERS of INTERCESSION

PEACE              

Meal

OFFERING

OFFERTORY ANTHEM          “A Lenten Prayer”

GREAT THANKSGIVING

A MOMENT of THANKFUL REFLECTION

LORD’S PRAYER      

COMMUNION SONGS            “Lamb of God”

Also, red book # 623, red book # 629

Sending

BLESSING

ANNOUNCEMENTS

SENDING SONG           “Guide Me Ever, Great Redeemer”        red book # 618

DISMISSAL

POSTLUDE

Gathering

PRELUDE           “Liebestraum”  (F. Liszt)          Kenneth Yao

CONGREGATIONAL WELCOME

Thanksgiving for Baptism

Gathering Song            “Arise, Your Light Has Come!”          red book # 314

GREETING

KYRIE          red book pg. 147(set 4)               

PRAYER of the DAY

Word

EXODUS 24:12-18                                                   

PSALM 2

2 PETER 1:16-21

MATTHEW 17:1-9

SERMON             Pastor Chris Halverson

Here we are with Jesus on one of three major mountains in the Gospel.

We’ve already been with him on the Mount of Beatitudes, as he described what God’s Rule is like in his famed “Sermon on the Mount.” Now we are exposed to the fullness of God dwelling among us on the Mount of Transfiguration… and then we will meet him again at Calvary (Mount Gethsemane & Golgotha).
On the mountain for his teaching, his transfiguration, and his torture and death.

The first and the last mountains are, in a sense, fairly straightforward—a Sermon and an execution… but the Transfiguration… it is mysterious… there are no clear analogies or stories we can tell to understand what God is up to—what God is revealing to us on that mountain…

Prayer

We find Jesus’ inner circle up here with him, and then he isn’t the he he was, he is transformed—he shines!

Now, if you’ve seen any of the Matrix movies, you’ll know they’re on the gritty and dark side
—after all one of the plot points is that the sun was blotted out. If you slog through all three of these sci-fi movies you get this moment in the third one where two of the main characters make it through the clouds and into the upper atmosphere, and for the first time in any of the movies you see the sun for a moment, and it is astonishing! You’re left agape!

I imagine James and John and Peter experienced something similar, up there with Jesus, a dazing dazzling moment…

A moment quickly cut short by the presence of Elijah and Moses, these figures of the past presenting themselves to Jesus on the mount
—they are called in as witnesses,
two holy witnesses to this strange and powerful event
—they, representing the Law and the Prophets
—witness, verify, the message of this moment.

Then this strange cloud, this shadow that illuminates, appears. It is the Kavod of God, the heaviness of God, the fullness of God, the presence of God
—When the Israelites escaped Egypt, there was the Kavod of God in the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night.
—When the temple was built and sanctified—the Kavod of God appeared.
—When the temple was destroyed the Prophet Ezekiel saw the Kavod of God leave to travel with the people in exile…

And now Elijah and Moses point to the Kavod of God, that God is present in God’s fullness with Jesus…

And God reveals more completely who Jesus is “my Son, the Beloved, pleasing to God, the one to whom the disciples, we disciples, are to listen.”
Just as was spoken at his baptism, so it is spoken now—this is the Son of God—this reality highlighted with witnesses and bright clouds and Jesus’ changed appearance.

A moment for the disciples to dream and hold onto the fullness of what it means… to be followers of his…

But the fullness of these things is always overwhelming, and holding onto it is like grasping steam
—it slips through your fingers and scalds
—they are, rightly, overawed by all of this
—Revelation is always overwhelming and beyond our grasp for long.

And there is Jesus—gentle Jesus, picking them up in their terror, comforting them.

Comfort… isn’t that something? The grand command from the Father is listen to him… and his command is: get up, don’t be afraid!

Get up—don’t build huts in the clouds and never leave, don’t cling too much, but keep on.

Don’t be afraid—you’re journeying with Jesus, and this Jesus is God’s son,
he is the real deal,
is the one in whom God is present,
the one to whom the Law and the Prophets point…
This journey with him will be like nothing you’ve ever experienced before or could imagine…

But at the same time, this journey with him… is a journey you are already on!
Think about it! You’ve already been journeying with the one whom angels sing about, who prophets point to… God’s son.
Keeping that truth tightly in your heart, when things are going badly, when that other mountain that is to come—Calvary—looms large… you need to hear, “Be Not Afraid!”
George Orwell once wrote, “To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.”
So too, for these disciples, we disciples, to hold fast to this transfiguration moment, “This is my beloved son” needs a constant struggle… needs that kind command, “Be Not Afraid.”

Finally, Jesus gives one more command, “Tell no one.”

This is an easy one, right? Who’d believe you?

It’s like in the Harry Potter books—the reason non-magical users never discover the Wizarding World is that when they notice it, they don’t tell anyone, because who would believe them anyway?

So too this vision—it is unbelievable

So too, that mountain they are heading toward—God’s beloved son, to be executed as a cursed criminal—it also is unbelievable.

And perhaps it is from those other two mountains that we can grasp, however weakly, the Transfiguration.

The Transfiguration is an example of the reign of God (the Kingdom of Heaven), preached about in the Sermon on the Mount, and explained in parables
—it is like a seed sewn—planted, hidden in the dirt
—tell no one of the fruit you saw on the hill, let its seed lay resting and transforming until the moment when it bursts forth for all to see in the Resurrection!

Hold it carefully with you, for it is precious and strange
—like Baptism maybe?
—if you were baptized as an infant or a young person it is a vague memory, yet it has a hold on you your whole life long,
it shapes who you are and what you do, from font to funeral pall, your whole life, your whole journey
—you journey with Jesus from “This is my beloved son” to Cross and to Resurrection.

As we lean into Lent, that challenging and transformative time in the church year, ponder what was revealed about Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, even as you keep journeying with him.

A+A

HYMN of the DAY               “How Good, Lord, to Be Here!”              red book # 315

APOSTLES CREED

PRAYERS of INTERCESSION

PEACE

Meal

OFFERING

OFFERTORY            “River Flows in You”  (Yoruba)              Kenneth Yao

GREAT THANKSGIVING

A MOMENT of THANKFUL REFLECTION

LORD’S PRAYER         

COMMUNION SONGS            “Lamb of God”

Also, red book # 838, red book # 618

Sending

BLESSING

ANNOUNCEMENTS

SENDING SONG            “Go, My Children, with My Blessing”         red book # 543

DISMISSAL

POSTLUDE