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April 2015 Sermons:
The Reverend Joyce Smothers
"Don't Stay in Fear" — April 5
"One Heart and Soul" — April 12
"What's the Opposite of Faith?" — April 19
"Love in Action" — April 26
“Don't Stay in Fear”
April 5, 2015 — Easter Sunday
First Presbyterian Church of Hokendauqua
The Reverend Joyce Smothers
Mark 16:1-8
Did you notice how strangely that Bible story ends? “They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid!” Those are the last words. Where’s the resurrected Jesus? Actually, the empty tomb passage, in the gospel of Mark, has two endings. Jesus appears in the second ending, but not the first. If you’d like to read both endings now, turn to page 830 in the red Bible in your pew. You’ll see them, one right after the other. Seems kind of awkward, doesn’t it? It’s almost like finding your current flame and your ex, both standing on your doorstep at the same time! Do you see why you haven’t heard very many Easter sermons on the last chapter of Mark’s gospel?
The ending I read, for our gospel lesson, was the original one. In other words, we’re pretty sure that’s the one Mark wrote. It matches the oldest Greek manuscripts. The second ending is found in the King James Version, the old translation from Shakespeare’s time. We think this longer ending was written by monks in the Middle Ages, and not by Mark.
Why would anyone rewrite the Easter story? Scrolls from Jesus’ time crumbled after a century or two. Monks had to handwrite each copy of the Bible, before the printing press was invented, so the Bible wouldn’t be lost to future generations. Why else would anyone dare to make up a new ending to this gospel story? They were afraid, I think---- that people might not find Mark’s original ending inspiring enough. I don’t blame them. Mark doesn’t give us any eyewitness descriptions of Jesus after the resurrection. It looks almost as if an entire page of Mark’s last scroll is missing. These nervous monks just borrowed a few sentences from Matthew, Luke and John. An ending, with three frightened women, an angel, and no Jesus—and that would never do! They simply had to fix this problem.
We’ll never know the names of the monks who added that new ending. It’s one of the great Biblical mysteries. History was recorded in very different ways, back then. Think about how easily the story of Jesus might have been lost to us. I’m thankful that the Word of the Lord was saved, through the Dark Ages.
Which ending to Mark do you prefer? I know which one I like better—the first one. The Gospel of Mark is an action-packed story. Three women arrive at the tomb. They discover Jesus’ body gone. When the man in white tells the women that Jesus has risen, they decide to keep it quiet. His disappearance is so unexpected! They’re horrified. They feel anything but joyful. They think the world has gone crazy. And that’s how verse 8 ends.
Mark’s verse eight is “open-ended”—like those old CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE books. What happens after the women find the empty tomb? The outcome of this story is left up to Jesus’ disciples—and to us!
What about this man, who’s standing in the tomb in the last chapter of Mark? We know he’s not Jesus. He’s definitely not the gardener. He’s dressed in white so it seems he is an angel. He tells these terrified women what to do. His message is this: your leader’s gone ahead to Galilee. There you’ll see Him. You guys and gals had better get there fast! And as you go, tell Jesus’ story to everyone you see! The three women are just standing there, taking it all in. You know how you react when you get news that shocks you. You don’t jump up and run out the door right away. You let what you’ve heard, sink in.
So why does the first gospel writer end his story in such an abrupt way? I think Mark did it on purpose. He wants to leave the verse that says, "and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid" in our minds, to encourage us to be brave. We have many good reasons to fear. The world is full of danger. Our schools have to close because of bomb threats pretty often. Climate change has been bringing us longer, harder winters. Thieves call us on the phone, hoping to trick us out of our social security numbers and computer passwords.
But, like the women who find Jesus’ body in Mark’s gospel, we can't stay frozen in fear. It’s no way for a believer to live. Those nervous editors from the Middle Ages, knew that Mark’s first ending wouldn’t help early Christian converts. Believers can’t afford to get stuck in panic, if they want to follow Jesus.
Let’s go back and take a look at the angel’s message. The man in white has said to find Peter and go to Galilee. The risen Lord will be there to meet us, the angel says. That is the Great Commission. We have to go—not to Galilee, but to the places where we live and work and study and socialize-- and tell the good news of Jesus’ resurrection. Both endings to the gospel of Mark are important. We too greet God's good news with fear. If you had been those three women, wouldn’t you have thought at first that Jesus’ body had been stolen? I would have been frightened, for sure. But we need the second ending of Mark’s gospel, too—the ending that tells of Jesus’ resurrection.
Jesus appears to the frightened and the doubtful. If we run from the tomb in fear, we will never see Him. If we close our eyes we won’t find the treasures God has in store for us in this world.
How will WE respond to the story? Will we run? Or will we go and tell all the others? This isn’t a story we can just listen to, and then ask, "Isn’t that a nice story?" The way Mark tells it, we must give it an ending. What we do, with what we now know, will shape the ending to the story. I can’t tell you how to respond. I can only invite you to face your own fears and allow God to lead you. I can, however, promise that if you take the risk of change in your life, that God will go before you and be with you wherever you go. You don’t need to be afraid. He is risen, indeed!
Let us pray. Gracious God, give us courage. Jesus has gone before us to Galilee. He waits for us there. May our hearts be full of joy as He welcomes us. May we share our faith with everyone we meet. AMEN
“One Heart and Soul”
April 12, 2015
First Presbyterian Church of Hokendauqua
The Reverend Joyce Smothers
Acts 4:32-35
I’ve noticed that parking wasn't as much of a problem here today as it was last week. What a difference a week can make! And what a difference a year can make, too. On Easter Sunday of 2014, we had a total of 84 people at worship, split between two services. This year we had one service and 106 people! Here we are on the Second Sunday of Easter, and now things are back to normal. Today is usually called “Low Sunday” in churches because we expect a drop in attendance. We’re glad you’re here!
The fourth chapter of Acts describes the earliest Christian congregation in Jerusalem—a church of five thousand people. And here we are on Low Sunday, two thousand and fifteen years later. We are small, but mighty. What do visitors see at our church? I see a friendly and welcoming congregation. We have a few traits in common with those early worshipers. In Jerusalem we see a highly-energized group of Christians. How can we tell, from such a short scripture reading? We can see it in their boldness. The resurrection story continued in the way they lived. They witnessed to their faith in Jesus Christ “with great power.”
Boldness in witness is a major theme of the book of Acts. The kind of spiritual power this group had, enabled them to be a light unto the world. When we compare the early Christians to the typical mainline church today, the biggest difference we notice is lack of unity. Those folks in the ancient Jerusalem congregation represented every social class, but they were unified in every way. In our denomination today, as in many Christian churches, there are major differences of opinion about moral and ethical issues. And there’s another big problem with mainline Protestants. We are shy and awkward about witnessing to the Holy Spirit. Is it any wonder that churches are declining?
Luke tells us that these ancient Christians “were of one heart and soul” to such an extent that they held all their property in common. This was true of the Shakers in our country’s early years. It was also true of many early churches in Pennsylvania. These followers of Jesus in Jerusalem were joined together in love by the Holy Spirit. We are distrustful of that level of sharing today, and with good reason. In our lifetimes, we’ve seen the failure of Communism.
But perhaps we’ve gone too far in the other direction. Twenty-first century Christians see the work of the church as serving individual needs—that is, making people happy and bringing them peace of mind. I often hear that people come here to be “fed.” But our religion doesn’t dominate most people’s lives, the way it did for the Shakers or for these Jerusalem Christians of long ago. Some people compare churches to gas stations. People go to worship to get spiritual fuel for the week—to be served, rather than to serve. Division within or among the churches isn’t that big a deal today. If we don’t get along, we’ll just part company and go church shopping.
But the book of Acts gives us a radically different picture of ministry. Ancient Christians regarded spiritual matters corporately, not individually. The early church had just one mission—to make disciples of all nations. When you have a mission, divisions undercut the work of the church. The first task of the church is to create a loving community in a divided world. Community and unity are essential. That’s why reconciliation is really important. People can’t be part of a church and live in disharmony. When people meet Jesus Christ, a change occurs. Indifference is replaced with a new quality of caring. One of the indicators of the high energy of the Jerusalem Church is that they shared all things in common. They were truly brothers and sisters.
I want to share with you an old Eastern European tale that I read on National Sibling Day, which was last Friday. It’s about two brothers who inherited a farm. They decided to farm the land together and split the harvest. One brother married and had children, but the other brother never married. The single brother recognized that his brother had more mouths to feed, so an equal split wasn’t fair. The married brother realized that his brother had no one to provide for him in his old age, so an equal split wasn’t fair. So every night each brother slipped over to the other’s barn and emptied several bags of grain. One night the brothers bumped into each other and realized what was happening. They fell into each other’s arms. A gentle rain began to fall. According to the legend, the rain was God’s tears of joy.
We value private ownership, and direct much of our energy toward gathering and protecting material goods. But when, say, a parent dies, we are overwhelmed with all the stuff they have. We, as their children and grandchildren, have to organize, store, give away, or get rid of it. That’s when we realize how unimportant possessions really are.
The Jerusalem church created a loving community in a divided world. These early Christians followed the example of Jesus’ life. They were as concerned about their neighbors’ well-being as they were about their own. They ministered not just to the spiritual needs of others, but also to their physical needs.
Recently I heard a remarkable story that reminds me of these early congregations—but I can imagine it happening here, too. Several years ago there was a woman in Oklahoma who had to be rushed to the hospital. But as she was being prepared for the operating room, it was discovered that she had a rare blood type, which the hospital did not have in stock in its blood bank. Her doctors began to consider her options. They knew that if they had to wait for blood to be flown in from a distant hospital, that it might be too late to save her. So they decided to call the church where that woman was a member. And it turned out that the church secretary had just completed computerizing their membership information. Amazingly enough, it included the blood type of each member. Within seconds, the secretary was able to identify three church members who had the same blood type. And when a doctor from the hospital called those members, one of them immediately headed to the hospital, where the staff performed a direct transfusion that saved the patient's life.
God’s power shows in the way Jesus’ followers live together. Although I haven’t seen any blood transfusions happening lately in our congregation, I’ve seen great generosity here, and I’ve even heard about a few spiritual transfusions. It’s a wonderful thought that we might be able to bring about an outbreak of Christian love across our land today. I can imagine it starting in churches like ours.
Let us pray. Gracious God, enfold us with a vision of what could be, if we all reached out to others. Bless us, not only with hearts that want to share, but also with hands that keep on sharing. In Jesus’ name we pray. AMEN
“What's the Opposite of Faith?”
April 19, 2015
First Presbyterian Church of Hokendauqua
The Reverend Joyce Smothers
Luke 24: 36b-48
Doubting Thomas isn’t the only skeptic in the post-Easter gospel stories. At first, nobody believes that Jesus has come back to life. Mary Magdalene is the first to see the empty tomb. She tells Peter and "the disciple whom Jesus loved." The men see that Jesus’ body has disappeared. They leave the cemetery, shocked and puzzled. They don’t say or do anything, at first. Even when Jesus speaks to Mary, she’s so sure that people don’t rise from the dead, that she thinks He’s the gardener.
In John’s version of this story, our gospel reading last Sunday, the disciples are hiding in the upper room. They’re stunned because of the terrible way their leader has died on a Roman cross. They’re afraid someone will accuse them of having stolen His body. At any rate, they’re not sitting around chatting about the resurrection! The possibility hasn’t even occurred to them that He could’ve been raised from the dead, until Jesus comes into the room. When they see Him, they believe. Thomas gets a bad rap. He’s no more of a "doubter" than the rest of Jesus’ friends. Remember—he’s not with the others when they first see Jesus. Once Thomas is there to see Him with his own eyes, he believes, as well.
In Luke’s version of the story, just after Jesus has disappeared from the table in Emmaus, and the two disciples there have run all the way back to Jerusalem to tell the others, Jesus appears in the midst of that gathering. He says "Peace be with you.” Luke tells us that, at first, "they were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost."
Jesus shows them His hands and feet, and invites them to touch Him, to see that He has flesh and bones. But Luke tells us that even in the midst of their joy, "they were disbelieving and still wondering." So Jesus gets a piece of broiled fish from them and eats it. Since everyone knows that ghosts don’t eat, this, apparently, is the final piece of evidence. Now they are finally at peace, and can listen to what Jesus says. He reminds them of everything He taught them. He tells them that they are witnesses to these things. But in both cases – Luke’s telling of the story, and John’s –the disciples don’t believe anything good has happened until Jesus shows up in person and makes them believe it.
The disciples witnessed something new, surprising and overwhelmingly joyful. No matter how strange Jesus’ story sounded, they continued to witness to the reality of resurrection. What does it mean to be a "witness?" If I’m a witness in a courtroom, it means that I’m testifying about something I have seen that the jury has not seen. If I’m an expert witness, I’m testifying about something I know that the average person wouldn’t know. In either case, I’m trying to persuade people to believe my account of a surprising event they have not experienced.
Eyewitness testimony can be inaccurate. Different people can observe the same event and remember different things about it, and put different interpretations on it. So when I, or anyone, try to function as a "witness," part of the job is not only to tell what I know, but to get others to believe what I say.
Once the disciples had actually seen Jesus, it was no longer a matter of belief, really. It was a question of evidence. They had all doubted. None of them had enough faith to get them beyond the horror of Jesus’ death. But once you’ve seen for yourself, it’s not a question of faith any more. The disciples had it easier than we do, because they saw His resurrected body with their own eyes.
I recently read an interview with writer Anne Lamott. One sentence in that interview stunned me: “The opposite of faith is not doubt,” she said. “The opposite of faith is certainty.” Think about that. The disciples didn’t have faith in the resurrection. They had certainty. They saw Jesus; they touched Him and they even watched Him eat a piece of broiled fish!
We are the ones who need faith to believe such a miracle… faith that the disciples’ testimony about what they saw is accurate. When we say the Apostles’ Creed together we don’t say, "I know that such-and-such happened.” It’s always, "I believe." We didn’t see it ourselves. We didn’t touch Jesus or share a meal with Him in the body. We choose to believe, but we can never have the kind of certainty an eyewitness would have had.
Think about faith, in terms of our daily lives. Do I need to have faith that the sun will rise each morning? Or do I just know it? Do I need to have faith that walking in the rain will get me wet? Or is that something I can know? Similarly, do we know what God’s opinions are about the decisions we need to make? Or do we need to have faith that God will guide us? Do we know what God demands of us? Or do we have faith that God will show us what to do?
We are told, far too often, that DOUBT is the opposite of faith. We all raise questions. At times, we all wonder whether God is paying attention. We get angry about senseless tragedies. So, does this prove that our faith is weak? I don’t think so. Have people said any of these things to you? Having trouble believing in the resurrection? Where is your faith? Wondering where God is in the midst of a hurricane? You wouldn’t be worrying if you had faith. Unsure about what God wants you to do? If you had enough faith, you would know what God wants. People who makes these kinds of comments may not realize it, but aren’t challenging us. They are shaming us. Their certainty isn’t the same thing as faith.
It’s impossible to know the mind of God. We can’t know what happens after death. We haven’t been there yet. We can’t know why God lets hurricanes and the tragic deaths of young children happen. We have to have faith that God is in charge, when sometimes it doesn’t look that way at all. We don’t "know" that Jesus was raised for us; we didn’t get to touch His resurrected body. We have to go on the witness of the people who were there.
Doubts are not an obstacle to faith. They show that faith can be a challenge. We believe, not because WE have seen, but because we trust the testimony of those who have seen, and the generations who came in between. Because God’s Son, Jesus Christ, lived, died, and was resurrected, death is no longer our final destination. We’ve heard this story so many times that it doesn’t excite us anymore. But it’s powerful, surprising news for all people.
In Greek, the verb, “to believe,” means “to give one’s heart to.” The promise of the resurrection means that we look for the dead to come back to the land of the living. We all know a few people who are physically alive, but who have died in spirit. Who are the folks you know, who need new life? How will you witness to Christ, and welcome them home?
Let us pray. We come to you, O God, with hope and faith. Through the promise of Easter, we walk with you. Increase our faith, we pray, until the day comes, in that world beyond this one, where our faith becomes knowledge and sight. AMEN
“Love in Action”
April 26, 2015
First Presbyterian Church of Hokendauqua
The Reverend Joyce Smothers
1 John 3: 16-24
Sacrificial love stands at the center of the Christian faith. It’s rooted in God’s nature and it is the strongest power in the world. Jesus came into this world to make that love real for us, by laying down His life for us. The First Letter of John is filled with that love. For him, love wasn’t an emotion. It was direct action on behalf of people in need.
I wonder: was John lucky enough to have found a community of believers bound together in love, rather than a collection of spiritually-oriented individuals? We’ll never know. We aren’t even sure which “John” of the Bible wrote this letter! Think about the kinds of things you might include in a letter. Would any of us take the time to send a letter to pass along information the reader already knows? The only reason to do that might be in a business setting, where you document your words in writing so you have a permanent record. But if, even today, we don’t tell people things they already know, then why would John have done that in Jesus’ time, when letters had to be copied by hand, and then delivered in a scroll?! Letters were for telling news that your reader hadn’t heard, or for reminding them about teachings they’ve forgotten. Paul had to do that with the Corinthians often. So if John is sending this message to the recipients of his first letter--and by the way, we don’t know who they were, either!-- and talking nonstop about love, what does that suggest? That they were a loving community? Probably not. It suggests that these folks had been behaving badly.
Listen to verse seventeen. "How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?" Why would John mention that, unless he had heard reports that supposed Christians were ignoring the needs of the people around them?
The key comes in verse eighteen: "Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action." It’s like the advice given to beginning writers: “Show, don’t tell.” Don’t write, for example, "It was a scary old house." Describe the peeling paint, the falling shutters, and the creaking sounds. Likewise, John says, "Don’t just say the words, “God is love,” or, ‘The love of God be with you.’" Show it! Give your cloak to the beggar at the gate. Share your meal with the widow. Obey God’s laws.
And John did say, "obey [God’s] commandments and do what pleases [God.]” But what are those commandments? Is he talking about the Big Ten from Exodus? Is he talking about the 613 separate commandments in the Hebrew scriptures? No. "This is His commandment," he says in verse 23, "that we should believe in the name of God’s Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as He has commanded us." We are in a position to receive from God whatever we ask—provided we keep that commandment.
And what does it mean to love one another? That takes us back to verse eighteen of our epistle reading, where John told us to pay attention to "truth and action." And, if the "truth" be told, if we act lovingly toward one another, and to brothers and sisters in need, then we’ve covered all that matters in the Old Testament law.
Let’s look at two arenas for "love in action." One arena would be the places that we deliberately seek out-- where we can show God’s love in action. The other arena would be the places where we already are, where we make choices that demonstrate love.
Let’s talk about the first one first, because it’s what we often think about first when we want to put faith and love into action. It’s also the one we worry about the most, because it’s "above and beyond” our daily routines, when it seems we have too much on our plates already. And yet, for nearly everyone here, it’s something we are already doing: Volunteering your time at the hospital gift shop, or writing a check for the church or for One Great Hour of Sharing. By the way, we raised more than five hundred dollars for OGHS this year. Organizing or attending an event to raise money for a charity close to your heart. Visiting patients at a nursing home.
Putting love into action sometimes involves difficult decisions. When you see a homeless person, how do you put love in action? Do you give him money? Drive him to a shelter? Stop at the nearby McDonald’s and bring him a burger? Attend a city council meeting and advocate for a shelter for the homeless? You could do all of those things. The key for John in this letter is---- what does love require of you in a particular instance? Not what is expedient, or cost-efficient, or even necessarily safe. What does love require? Love requires action that challenges our abilities and resources. That’s a tricky balance to maintain.
Love demands that we find shelter for every person who has none and that we provide food for everyone who doesn’t have enough to eat. We are few, and the needs are many. Where is the match between our abilities and a world in need? Where can our actions make a difference, whether we’re talking about "us" as a congregation, or "us" as individual Christians?
A hairstylist named Mark Bustos works at an upscale barber shop in Manhattan. On his day off, he gives free haircuts to homeless people. The recipients of his work are tremendously grateful. Free haircuts—that’s love in truth and action. What action does God need from us? Putting our faith and love into action, closer to home, is easier and more difficult at the same time. Easier, because we don’t have to go looking for opportunities. More difficult, because people around us can be so challenging! How can you put love into action toward a neighbor whose loud partying wakens you late at night? How does love show itself toward a co-worker who steals ideas and presents them as her own? To a passer-by who throws empty plastic bottles on the flowers in your front yard? In those cases, how do we determine when the loving thing is to confront, and when the loving thing is to let it go? If we confront, can we do good instead of harm?
Loving your neighbor means seeking the good of others as being equal to ours. It means seeking what is best for them, not just what we can manage with a little bit of effort. In a sense, it’s easier to do that with a brother or sister in need, whom we might help one time and then never see again. It can be harder to love friends and co-workers than to love a stranger! And yet, God loves both neighbor and stranger.
Today, American society is quite different from the world of the church. It’s about competition and power. It celebrates winners and shames losers. Sharing is considered weak. The church, on the other hand, is rooted in God’s love. Our witness to it, is our most sacred trust. For the world, love in action is the only hope, the only salvation.
Gracious God, we give you thanks that you have shown us the meaning of love through Jesus Christ, who gave His life for us. Show us how to share that love by giving our lives for one another, to the glory of your holy name. AMEN
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