Sermons

Every two years I travel to the General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). I join several thousand other Disciples for five days of worship, work, study, business and fellowship. This past week we met in Portland for this biennial gathering, and I was reminded once again that we are a part of a larger church which reaches out beyond our walls. And that is an important reminder. When we gather week in and week out for worship here at the corner of 1st and Jackson streets in downtown Moscow, Idaho, it is all too easy to forget about the larger context in which we live. We forget that not everyone looks like us, or talks like us, or thinks like us. We forget that there are needs we don’t always see. We forget there are resources we don’t always use. And so, from time to time, it is good to be reminded.
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In Matthew’s Gospel, many of Jesus’ parables focus on “the kingdom of heaven.” It is a way of talking about the reality to which Jesus is pointing us, which stands in contrast with the “reality” out of which we usually operate. The kingdom of heaven is, in fact, the reality of God’s presence in our lives and in our world. Jesus begins his public ministry by declaring that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. God is right here, right now, in the very midst of us. All we have to do is notice. Jesus then spends the rest of his ministry helping people notice -- offering illustrations which will assist us in understanding what that means, and encouraging us to begin living as if it were true.
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Isaiah speaks of God’s word (God’s active, creative presence in the world) as being effective. It will, finally, accomplish God’s purposes. “You shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle.” (Isaiah 55: 12-13) It may not happen in the ways we expect. It may not happen with the timing we would choose. There will be plenty of things about the ways in which God works in the world that we simply do not understand. And still Isaiah assures us that we can have confidence.
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For 230 years now, we Americans have been celebrating Independence Day. Being fiercely independent has become a defining American virtue. Unfortunately, I think we have taken the idea way too much to heart. We lift ourselves by our own bootstraps. We don’t need any help from anyone. We protect our own against all our enemies (defined as anyone not just like us). We don’t want to be beholding to anyone. We become so focused on our independence that we all too often forget about our interdependence. Our vision is so turned inward that we lose sight of the reality which is all around us.
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