Success and Failure Sermon for July 9, 2007
Scripture: 2 Sam. 5:1-5, 10; 2 Cor. 11:30-12:6-10; Mark 6:1-6a
How many of you have paid attention to a commercial featuring the great basketball player, Michael Jordan? I’m not sure what was being advertised, but Michael says: “I’ve lost over 300 games; I have been asked to take the game winning shot 26 times and missed; every time I fail I get better.” I wonder how many of you think of failure in this way. Probably not very many of you. How many of you would say with Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, “If I boast of anything, I will boast of my weakness.”? In our gospel lesson Jesus is scorned and almost run out of town by the members of his hometown synagogue. Earlier in the gospel of Mark, he has other unsuccessful interactions with of all people his family. In Mark 3:21 his family label him crazy and try to restrain him. We are told in a later verse (3:31) that his mother and siblings try again to remove him from his teaching ministry. Even with the charismatic and dearly loved David, there are many battles, many divisions, much betrayal and loss before he becomes King of all of Israel. With David, with Paul, with Jesus, and with us there are many things to face and overcome in our lives. For this sermon I am using success, not in secular, worldly terms, but to signify spiritual wholeness. Maybe a better title would be strength and weakness.
Have you ever told your spouse or your teenager something very significant and had them pay little or no attention to what you said? Then later their teacher, or counselor, or minister says the exact same thing and suddenly that truth which you first uttered is a big deal, a great insight—and they completely forgot that you said it first? I know I have been on both sides of this kind of experience. By the time our Gospel lesson took place, Jesus has done many amazing things. In the previous chapter of Mark alone, Jesus has healed the Gerasene demoniac, raised Jairus’ daughter from death, and stopped the hemorrhaging of the woman who had been bleeding for many years. There are also many earlier reports of Jesus’ miracles of healing and driving out demons.
Nazareth in the time of Jesus was a small village; I’ve seen estimates of everything from 80 to 1600 population. At any rate it was the kind of place where everyone knew everyone else, the way Deering use to be when folks like Don Johnson and his sister Hazel Vogelin were growing up here, or when Margaret Colburn came here to teach. In Mark’s writing Jesus is called a carpenter—a craftsman that was respected and reasonably well paid but socially no way near as important as a rabbi or teacher—one who devotes his life to the intellectual and the spiritual. He is also referred to in the Mark scripture as the son of Mary whereas the common reference would always be the son of the father’s name. So this is an insult that may well have to do with a slur about the legitimacy of Jesus’ birth. Remember Mary was with child before Joseph took her as his wife. Now Jesus comes back home with an entourage of disciples and preaches in the temple. Did he say something that was threatening to their status quo? Or were they simply offended at what the townspeople might have seen as his “uppity ways”? At any rate, whatever the reason, we are told that he could do no deed of power there and that he was amazed at their unbelief. Jesus states, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” (6:4)
This story is not just about Jesus’ kin rejecting him, but just as our family may not have paid any attention to our wisdom, this story is also about our being unwilling to be helped by God. We often think we have all the answers, know what’s best for ourselves and refuse to ask for help. We don’t want to seem weak or vulnerable. When it comes to weakness, Paul is certainly our best role model. Amongst the Corinthians, there were other prophets who were much sharper intellectually, more articulate. These others claimed to boast of how they were also superior to Paul in visions and revelations. Paul considers boasting about his own visions and revelations, but instead decides to tell the Corinthians about how God has given him a thorn in the flesh. We do not know what this thorn weakness was—whether a physical impairment or an emotional illness or some other thing; we do know that Paul prayed three times for God to cure him, take away this thorn and on the third prayer attempt, God tells Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”What does this mean for us? How can our weakness be turned into strength? I’m sure many of you can think about times of struggle and difficulty that you have had, maybe a heart attack or another scare about your health. Times like these can help us gain clarity, deeper insight as to what are the really important things in life. When your house has blown away in the hurricane you are very aware that whether you have new carpeting or get upset because your toddler used crayons on the wall is quite trivial. Mediocre goals like buying a new car or getting a big screen digital TV can be seen for what they are—nice frosting on the cake but certainly not necessities. When we are in a period of weakness, we can reassess and decide what it is we really want to spend our time, money and energy on. During these hard times we can also realize how many inner resources we have: resources to cope, faith to ask God to guide us and keep us going, willingness to share with a friend and allow a friend to be God’s strength for us. A good illustration of this last point is a story about a small boy trying to lift a stone much too heavy for him. His father walked by and seeing his struggles said "Are you using all your strength?" The boy said that indeed he was. But the father replied "No son, you aren't, for you haven't asked me." How much haven't we asked God about? How much of our weakness do we keep locked up inside us, because we think that there is no help for us? A large part of our strength comes from our relationship to God - the God who is able and willing to help us. There are more than just our human inner and outer resources. There is also that supra-natural grace that comes from the Divine. It’s that amazing grace that God is talking about when God tells Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in human weakness.” Probably most of you here today can remember a situation when you were floundering badly, in great pain and suffering and something Holy saved you—something other than your patience, perseverance, or good neighbors. It may have snuck up on you quietly or maybe came dramatically. At any rate there was that feeling of sustained strength and warmth that made you much stronger than you could imagine yourself to be.The 12 step programs such as Alcoholic Anonymous understand this weakness business much better than lots of church folks. Their first 3 steps are: 1) An acknowledgment of weakness; 2) a belief that one’s higher power, whom we call God, can help; and 3)the willingness to turn one’s life, including the problem drinking, over to God. As it is with alcohol, so is it with the rest of our life. As Richard Fairchild says in his online liturgies, “Until we admit our weakness, until we stop being afraid of it, until we stop denying it, we can’t find the help we need.”Paul says, ”When I am weak, then I am strong”. Most of the world thinks this is nonsense. The secular world teaches us to hide our vulnerability; power and strength are worshipped by most folks and weakness is denied and hidden. Some of you have heard me talk about how I had decided not to go into parish ministry due to my weakness in public speaking. During my social work career, I became somewhat an expert on incest and on multiple personality disorders. Every once in awhile I was asked to speak to other social work agencies on these topics. My anxiety was so great that I finally decided not to do it anymore. I never liked to hear ministers read their sermons and I couldn’t imagine ever getting up and preaching without notes. Instead of hiding this weakness I shared it with teachers and supervising ministers. I remember a Conference minister in Vermont that knew of my anxiety pointing out how dynamic a particular National officer in our denomination was when she preached using a manuscript. She and others encouraged me to stop worrying about preaching in the oral tradition that I so admired and instead become the best manuscript preacher I could be. I began preaching in this way and realized that my anxiety decreased and my confidence increased. Now I know I’m not one of the top preachers in our country by a long shot; however, through my weakness I allowed human and divine resources to help me be able to preach. God’s grace continues to be with me as I sit down at the computer. Often times what I thought I would say changes dramatically as I let the combination of my mind, my prayers, my heart, my fingers produce the sermons that I preach every week. And I have every hope as the years go by that it can be said of my ministry what was said of David in 10th verse of our OT reading, “And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.” Out of our weakness God can produce great strength; out of our failures, God’s amazing grace can bring us true spiritual success or wholeness.In keeping with this topic of weakness and strength, success and failure, I want to close with a poem of an unknown confederate soldier:
"I asked for health that I might do greater things, I was given infirmity that I might do better things...
I asked for riches that I might be happy, I was given poverty that I might be wise...
I asked for power that I might have the praise of men, I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God....
I asked for all things that I might enjoy life, I was given life that I might enjoy all things...
I got nothing that I asked for but everything that I hoped for.
Almost despite myself my unspoken prayers were answered.
I am among all men most richly blessed. "
My prayers for all of you are that you will find strength in your weaknesses as you open up your heart and minds to our great God. Amen
SUCCESS and FAILURE; STRENGTH and WEAKNESS
Sermon for July 9, 2006
Scripture: 2 Sam. 5:1-5, 10; 2 Cor. 11:30-12:6-10; Mark 6:1-6a
How many of you have paid attention to a commercial featuring the great basketball player, Michael Jordan? I’m not sure what was being advertised, but Michael says: “I’ve lost over 300 games; I have been asked to take the game winning shot 26 times and missed; every time I fail I get better.” I wonder how many of you think of failure in this way. Probably not very many of you. How many of you would say with Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, “If I boast of anything, I will boast of my weakness.”? In our gospel lesson Jesus is scorned and almost run out of town by the members of his hometown synagogue. Earlier in the gospel of Mark, he has other unsuccessful interactions with of all people his family. In Mark 3:21 his family label him crazy and try to restrain him. We are told in a later verse (3:31) that his mother and siblings try again to remove him from his teaching ministry. Even with the charismatic and dearly loved David, there are many battles, many divisions, much betrayal and loss before he becomes King of all of Israel. With David, with Paul, with Jesus, and with us there are many things to face and overcome in our lives. For this sermon I am using success, not in secular, worldly terms, but to signify spiritual wholeness. Maybe a better title would be strength and weakness.
Have you ever told your spouse or your teenager something very significant and had them pay little or no attention to what you said? Then later their teacher, or counselor, or minister says the exact same thing and suddenly that truth which you first uttered is a big deal, a great insight—and they completely forgot that you said it first? I know I have been on both sides of this kind of experience. By the time our Gospel lesson took place, Jesus has done many amazing things. In the previous chapter of Mark alone, Jesus has healed the Gerasene demoniac, raised Jairus’ daughter from death, and stopped the hemorrhaging of the woman who had been bleeding for many years. There are also many earlier reports of Jesus’ miracles of healing and driving out demons.
Nazareth in the time of Jesus was a small village; I’ve seen estimates of everything from 80 to 1600 population. At any rate it was the kind of place where everyone knew everyone else, the way Deering use to be when folks like Don Johnson and his sister Hazel Vogelin were growing up here, or when Margaret Colburn came here to teach. In Mark’s writing Jesus is called a carpenter—a craftsman that was respected and reasonably well paid but socially no way near as important as a rabbi or teacher—one who devotes his life to the intellectual and the spiritual. He is also referred to in the Mark scripture as the son of Mary whereas the common reference would always be the son of the father’s name. So this is an insult that may well have to do with a slur about the legitimacy of Jesus’ birth. Remember Mary was with child before Joseph took her as his wife. Now Jesus comes back home with an entourage of disciples and preaches in the temple. Did he say something that was threatening to their status quo? Or were they simply offended at what the townspeople might have seen as his “uppity ways”? At any rate, whatever the reason, we are told that he could do no deed of power there and that he was amazed at their unbelief. Jesus states, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” (6:4)
This story is not just about Jesus’ kin rejecting him, but just as our family may not have paid any attention to our wisdom, this story is also about our being unwilling to be helped by God. We often think we have all the answers, know what’s best for ourselves and refuse to ask for help. We don’t want to seem weak or vulnerable. When it comes to weakness, Paul is certainly our best role model. Amongst the Corinthians, there were other prophets who were much sharper intellectually, more articulate. These others claimed to boast of how they were also superior to Paul in visions and revelations. Paul considers boasting about his own visions and revelations, but instead decides to tell the Corinthians about how God has given him a thorn in the flesh. We do not know what this thorn weakness was—whether a physical impairment or an emotional illness or some other thing; we do know that Paul prayed three times for God to cure him, take away this thorn and on the third prayer attempt, God tells Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”What does this mean for us? How can our weakness be turned into strength? I’m sure many of you can think about times of struggle and difficulty that you have had, maybe a heart attack or another scare about your health. Times like these can help us gain clarity, deeper insight as to what are the really important things in life. When your house has blown away in the hurricane you are very aware that whether you have new carpeting or get upset because your toddler used crayons on the wall is quite trivial. Mediocre goals like buying a new car or getting a big screen digital TV can be seen for what they are—nice frosting on the cake but certainly not necessities. When we are in a period of weakness, we can reassess and decide what it is we really want to spend our time, money and energy on. During these hard times we can also realize how many inner resources we have: resources to cope, faith to ask God to guide us and keep us going, willingness to share with a friend and allow a friend to be God’s strength for us. A good illustration of this last point is a story about a small boy trying to lift a stone much too heavy for him. His father walked by and seeing his struggles said "Are you using all your strength?" The boy said that indeed he was. But the father replied "No son, you aren't, for you haven't asked me." How much haven't we asked God about? How much of our weakness do we keep locked up inside us, because we think that there is no help for us? A large part of our strength comes from our relationship to God - the God who is able and willing to help us. There are more than just our human inner and outer resources. There is also that supra-natural grace that comes from the Divine. It’s that amazing grace that God is talking about when God tells Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in human weakness.” Probably most of you here today can remember a situation when you were floundering badly, in great pain and suffering and something Holy saved you—something other than your patience, perseverance, or good neighbors. It may have snuck up on you quietly or maybe came dramatically. At any rate there was that feeling of sustained strength and warmth that made you much stronger than you could imagine yourself to be.The 12 step programs such as Alcoholic Anonymous understand this weakness business much better than lots of church folks. Their first 3 steps are: 1) An acknowledgment of weakness; 2) a belief that one’s higher power, whom we call God, can help; and 3)the willingness to turn one’s life, including the problem drinking, over to God. As it is with alcohol, so is it with the rest of our life. As Richard Fairchild says in his online liturgies, “Until we admit our weakness, until we stop being afraid of it, until we stop denying it, we can’t find the help we need.”Paul says, ”When I am weak, then I am strong”. Most of the world thinks this is nonsense. The secular world teaches us to hide our vulnerability; power and strength are worshipped by most folks and weakness is denied and hidden. Some of you have heard me talk about how I had decided not to go into parish ministry due to my weakness in public speaking. During my social work career, I became somewhat an expert on incest and on multiple personality disorders. Every once in awhile I was asked to speak to other social work agencies on these topics. My anxiety was so great that I finally decided not to do it anymore. I never liked to hear ministers read their sermons and I couldn’t imagine ever getting up and preaching without notes. Instead of hiding this weakness I shared it with teachers and supervising ministers. I remember a Conference minister in Vermont that knew of my anxiety pointing out how dynamic a particular National officer in our denomination was when she preached using a manuscript. She and others encouraged me to stop worrying about preaching in the oral tradition that I so admired and instead become the best manuscript preacher I could be. I began preaching in this way and realized that my anxiety decreased and my confidence increased. Now I know I’m not one of the top preachers in our country by a long shot; however, through my weakness I allowed human and divine resources to help me be able to preach. God’s grace continues to be with me as I sit down at the computer. Often times what I thought I would say changes dramatically as I let the combination of my mind, my prayers, my heart, my fingers produce the sermons that I preach every week. And I have every hope as the years go by that it can be said of my ministry what was said of David in 10th verse of our OT reading, “And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.” Out of our weakness God can produce great strength; out of our failures, God’s amazing grace can bring us true spiritual success or wholeness.In keeping with this topic of weakness and strength, success and failure, I want to close with a poem of an unknown confederate soldier: I asked for health that I might do greater things, I was given infirmity that I might do better things... I asked for riches that I might be happy, I was given poverty that I might be wise... I asked for power that I might have the praise of men, I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.... I asked for all things that I might enjoy life, I was given life that I might enjoy all things... I got nothing that I asked for but everything that I hoped for. Almost despite myself my unspoken prayers were answered. I am among all men most richly blessed. My prayers for all of you are that you will find strength in your weaknesses as you open up your heart and minds to our great God. Amen
SUCCESS and FAILURE; STRENGTH and WEAKNESS
Sermon for July 9, 2006
Scripture: 2 Sam. 5:1-5, 10; 2 Cor. 11:30-12:6-10; Mark 6:1-6a
How many of you have paid attention to a commercial featuring the great basketball player, Michael Jordan? I’m not sure what was being advertised, but Michael says: “I’ve lost over 300 games; I have been asked to take the game winning shot 26 times and missed; every time I fail I get better.” I wonder how many of you think of failure in this way. Probably not very many of you. How many of you would say with Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, “If I boast of anything, I will boast of my weakness.”? In our gospel lesson Jesus is scorned and almost run out of town by the members of his hometown synagogue. Earlier in the gospel of Mark, he has other unsuccessful interactions with of all people his family. In Mark 3:21 his family label him crazy and try to restrain him. We are told in a later verse (3:31) that his mother and siblings try again to remove him from his teaching ministry. Even with the charismatic and dearly loved David, there are many battles, many divisions, much betrayal and loss before he becomes King of all of Israel. With David, with Paul, with Jesus, and with us there are many things to face and overcome in our lives. For this sermon I am using success, not in secular, worldly terms, but to signify spiritual wholeness. Maybe a better title would be strength and weakness.
Have you ever told your spouse or your teenager something very significant and had them pay little or no attention to what you said? Then later their teacher, or counselor, or minister says the exact same thing and suddenly that truth which you first uttered is a big deal, a great insight—and they completely forgot that you said it first? I know I have been on both sides of this kind of experience. By the time our Gospel lesson took place, Jesus has done many amazing things. In the previous chapter of Mark alone, Jesus has healed the Gerasene demoniac, raised Jairus’ daughter from death, and stopped the hemorrhaging of the woman who had been bleeding for many years. There are also many earlier reports of Jesus’ miracles of healing and driving out demons.
Nazareth in the time of Jesus was a small village; I’ve seen estimates of everything from 80 to 1600 population. At any rate it was the kind of place where everyone knew everyone else, the way Deering use to be when folks like Don Johnson and his sister Hazel Vogelin were growing up here, or when Margaret Colburn came here to teach. In Mark’s writing Jesus is called a carpenter—a craftsman that was respected and reasonably well paid but socially no way near as important as a rabbi or teacher—one who devotes his life to the intellectual and the spiritual. He is also referred to in the Mark scripture as the son of Mary whereas the common reference would always be the son of the father’s name. So this is an insult that may well have to do with a slur about the legitimacy of Jesus’ birth. Remember Mary was with child before Joseph took her as his wife. Now Jesus comes back home with an entourage of disciples and preaches in the temple. Did he say something that was threatening to their status quo? Or were they simply offended at what the townspeople might have seen as his “uppity ways”? At any rate, whatever the reason, we are told that he could do no deed of power there and that he was amazed at their unbelief. Jesus states, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” (6:4)
This story is not just about Jesus’ kin rejecting him, but just as our family may not have paid any attention to our wisdom, this story is also about our being unwilling to be helped by God. We often think we have all the answers, know what’s best for ourselves and refuse to ask for help. We don’t want to seem weak or vulnerable. When it comes to weakness, Paul is certainly our best role model. Amongst the Corinthians, there were other prophets who were much sharper intellectually, more articulate. These others claimed to boast of how they were also superior to Paul in visions and revelations. Paul considers boasting about his own visions and revelations, but instead decides to tell the Corinthians about how God has given him a thorn in the flesh. We do not know what this thorn weakness was—whether a physical impairment or an emotional illness or some other thing; we do know that Paul prayed three times for God to cure him, take away this thorn and on the third prayer attempt, God tells Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”What does this mean for us? How can our weakness be turned into strength? I’m sure many of you can think about times of struggle and difficulty that you have had, maybe a heart attack or another scare about your health. Times like these can help us gain clarity, deeper insight as to what are the really important things in life. When your house has blown away in the hurricane you are very aware that whether you have new carpeting or get upset because your toddler used crayons on the wall is quite trivial. Mediocre goals like buying a new car or getting a big screen digital TV can be seen for what they are—nice frosting on the cake but certainly not necessities. When we are in a period of weakness, we can reassess and decide what it is we really want to spend our time, money and energy on. During these hard times we can also realize how many inner resources we have: resources to cope, faith to ask God to guide us and keep us going, willingness to share with a friend and allow a friend to be God’s strength for us. A good illustration of this last point is a story about a small boy trying to lift a stone much too heavy for him. His father walked by and seeing his struggles said "Are you using all your strength?" The boy said that indeed he was. But the father replied "No son, you aren't, for you haven't asked me." How much haven't we asked God about? How much of our weakness do we keep locked up inside us, because we think that there is no help for us? A large part of our strength comes from our relationship to God - the God who is able and willing to help us. There are more than just our human inner and outer resources. There is also that supra-natural grace that comes from the Divine. It’s that amazing grace that God is talking about when God tells Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in human weakness.” Probably most of you here today can remember a situation when you were floundering badly, in great pain and suffering and something Holy saved you—something other than your patience, perseverance, or good neighbors. It may have snuck up on you quietly or maybe came dramatically. At any rate there was that feeling of sustained strength and warmth that made you much stronger than you could imagine yourself to be.The 12 step programs such as Alcoholic Anonymous understand this weakness business much better than lots of church folks. Their first 3 steps are: 1) An acknowledgment of weakness; 2) a belief that one’s higher power, whom we call God, can help; and 3)the willingness to turn one’s life, including the problem drinking, over to God. As it is with alcohol, so is it with the rest of our life. As Richard Fairchild says in his online liturgies, “Until we admit our weakness, until we stop being afraid of it, until we stop denying it, we can’t find the help we need.”Paul says, ”When I am weak, then I am strong”. Most of the world thinks this is nonsense. The secular world teaches us to hide our vulnerability; power and strength are worshipped by most folks and weakness is denied and hidden. Some of you have heard me talk about how I had decided not to go into parish ministry due to my weakness in public speaking. During my social work career, I became somewhat an expert on incest and on multiple personality disorders. Every once in awhile I was asked to speak to other social work agencies on these topics. My anxiety was so great that I finally decided not to do it anymore. I never liked to hear ministers read their sermons and I couldn’t imagine ever getting up and preaching without notes. Instead of hiding this weakness I shared it with teachers and supervising ministers. I remember a Conference minister in Vermont that knew of my anxiety pointing out how dynamic a particular National officer in our denomination was when she preached using a manuscript. She and others encouraged me to stop worrying about preaching in the oral tradition that I so admired and instead become the best manuscript preacher I could be. I began preaching in this way and realized that my anxiety decreased and my confidence increased. Now I know I’m not one of the top preachers in our country by a long shot; however, through my weakness I allowed human and divine resources to help me be able to preach. God’s grace continues to be with me as I sit down at the computer. Often times what I thought I would say changes dramatically as I let the combination of my mind, my prayers, my heart, my fingers produce the sermons that I preach every week. And I have every hope as the years go by that it can be said of my ministry what was said of David in 10th verse of our OT reading, “And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.” Out of our weakness God can produce great strength; out of our failures, God’s amazing grace can bring us true spiritual success or wholeness.In keeping with this topic of weakness and strength, success and failure, I want to close with a poem of an unknown confederate soldier: I asked for health that I might do greater things, I was given infirmity that I might do better things... I asked for riches that I might be happy, I was given poverty that I might be wise... I asked for power that I might have the praise of men, I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.... I asked for all things that I might enjoy life, I was given life that I might enjoy all things... I got nothing that I asked for but everything that I hoped for. Almost despite myself my unspoken prayers were answered. I am among all men most richly blessed. My prayers for all of you are that you will find strength in your weaknesses as you open up your heart and minds to our great God. Amen
B
How many of you have paid attention to a commercial featuring the great basketball player, Michael Jordan? I’m not sure what was being advertised, but Michael says: “I’ve lost over 300 games; I have been asked to take the game winning shot 26 times and missed; every time I fail I get better.” I wonder how many of you think of failure in this way. Probably not very many of you. How many of you would say with Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, “If I boast of anything, I will boast of my weakness.”? In our gospel lesson Jesus is scorned and almost run out of town by the members of his hometown synagogue. Earlier in the gospel of Mark, he has other unsuccessful interactions with of all people his family. In Mark 3:21 his family label him crazy and try to restrain him. We are told in a later verse (3:31) that his mother and siblings try again to remove him from his teaching ministry. Even with the charismatic and dearly loved David, there are many battles, many divisions, much betrayal and loss before he becomes King of all of Israel. With David, with Paul, with Jesus, and with us there are many things to face and overcome in our lives. For this sermon I am using success, not in secular, worldly terms, but to signify spiritual wholeness. Maybe a better title would be strength and weakness.
Have you ever told your spouse or your teenager something very significant and had them pay little or no attention to what you said? Then later their teacher, or counselor, or minister says the exact same thing and suddenly that truth which you first uttered is a big deal, a great insight—and they completely forgot that you said it first? I know I have been on both sides of this kind of experience. By the time our Gospel lesson took place, Jesus has done many amazing things. In the previous chapter of Mark alone, Jesus has healed the Gerasene demoniac, raised Jairus’ daughter from death, and stopped the hemorrhaging of the woman who had been bleeding for many years. There are also many earlier reports of Jesus’ miracles of healing and driving out demons.
Nazareth in the time of Jesus was a small village; I’ve seen estimates of everything from 80 to 1600 population. At any rate it was the kind of place where everyone knew everyone else, the way Deering use to be when folks like Don Johnson and his sister Hazel Vogelin were growing up here, or when Margaret Colburn came here to teach. In Mark’s writing Jesus is called a carpenter—a craftsman that was respected and reasonably well paid but socially no way near as important as a rabbi or teacher—one who devotes his life to the intellectual and the spiritual. He is also referred to in the Mark scripture as the son of Mary whereas the common reference would always be the son of the father’s name. So this is an insult that may well have to do with a slur about the legitimacy of Jesus’ birth. Remember Mary was with child before Joseph took her as his wife. Now Jesus comes back home with an entourage of disciples and preaches in the temple. Did he say something that was threatening to their status quo? Or were they simply offended at what the townspeople might have seen as his “uppity ways”? At any rate, whatever the reason, we are told that he could do no deed of power there and that he was amazed at their unbelief. Jesus states, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” (6:4)
This story is not just about Jesus’ kin rejecting him, but just as our family may not have paid any attention to our wisdom, this story is also about our being unwilling to be helped by God. We often think we have all the answers, know what’s best for ourselves and refuse to ask for help. We don’t want to seem weak or vulnerable. When it comes to weakness, Paul is certainly our best role model. Amongst the Corinthians, there were other prophets who were much sharper intellectually, more articulate. These others claimed to boast of how they were also superior to Paul in visions and revelations. Paul considers boasting about his own visions and revelations, but instead decides to tell the Corinthians about how God has given him a thorn in the flesh. We do not know what this thorn weakness was—whether a physical impairment or an emotional illness or some other thing; we do know that Paul prayed three times for God to cure him, take away this thorn and on the third prayer attempt, God tells Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”What does this mean for us? How can our weakness be turned into strength? I’m sure many of you can think about times of struggle and difficulty that you have had, maybe a heart attack or another scare about your health. Times like these can help us gain clarity, deeper insight as to what are the really important things in life. When your house has blown away in the hurricane you are very aware that whether you have new carpeting or get upset because your toddler used crayons on the wall is quite trivial. Mediocre goals like buying a new car or getting a big screen digital TV can be seen for what they are—nice frosting on the cake but certainly not necessities. When we are in a period of weakness, we can reassess and decide what it is we really want to spend our time, money and energy on. During these hard times we can also realize how many inner resources we have: resources to cope, faith to ask God to guide us and keep us going, willingness to share with a friend and allow a friend to be God’s strength for us. A good illustration of this last point is a story about a small boy trying to lift a stone much too heavy for him. His father walked by and seeing his struggles said "Are you using all your strength?" The boy said that indeed he was. But the father replied "No son, you aren't, for you haven't asked me." How much haven't we asked God about? How much of our weakness do we keep locked up inside us, because we think that there is no help for us? A large part of our strength comes from our relationship to God - the God who is able and willing to help us. There are more than just our human inner and outer resources. There is also that supra-natural grace that comes from the Divine. It’s that amazing grace that God is talking about when God tells Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in human weakness.” Probably most of you here today can remember a situation when you were floundering badly, in great pain and suffering and something Holy saved you—something other than your patience, perseverance, or good neighbors. It may have snuck up on you quietly or maybe came dramatically. At any rate there was that feeling of sustained strength and warmth that made you much stronger than you could imagine yourself to be.The 12 step programs such as Alcoholic Anonymous understand this weakness business much better than lots of church folks. Their first 3 steps are: 1) An acknowledgment of weakness; 2) a belief that one’s higher power, whom we call God, can help; and 3)the willingness to turn one’s life, including the problem drinking, over to God. As it is with alcohol, so is it with the rest of our life. As Richard Fairchild says in his online liturgies, “Until we admit our weakness, until we stop being afraid of it, until we stop denying it, we can’t find the help we need.”Paul says, ”When I am weak, then I am strong”. Most of the world thinks this is nonsense. The secular world teaches us to hide our vulnerability; power and strength are worshipped by most folks and weakness is denied and hidden. Some of you have heard me talk about how I had decided not to go into parish ministry due to my weakness in public speaking. During my social work career, I became somewhat an expert on incest and on multiple personality disorders. Every once in awhile I was asked to speak to other social work agencies on these topics. My anxiety was so great that I finally decided not to do it anymore. I never liked to hear ministers read their sermons and I couldn’t imagine ever getting up and preaching without notes. Instead of hiding this weakness I shared it with teachers and supervising ministers. I remember a Conference minister in Vermont that knew of my anxiety pointing out how dynamic a particular National officer in our denomination was when she preached using a manuscript. She and others encouraged me to stop worrying about preaching in the oral tradition that I so admired and instead become the best manuscript preacher I could be. I began preaching in this way and realized that my anxiety decreased and my confidence increased. Now I know I’m not one of the top preachers in our country by a long shot; however, through my weakness I allowed human and divine resources to help me be able to preach. God’s grace continues to be with me as I sit down at the computer. Often times what I thought I would say changes dramatically as I let the combination of my mind, my prayers, my heart, my fingers produce the sermons that I preach every week. And I have every hope as the years go by that it can be said of my ministry what was said of David in 10th verse of our OT reading, “And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.” Out of our weakness God can produce great strength; out of our failures, God’s amazing grace can bring us true spiritual success or wholeness.In keeping with this topic of weakness and strength, success and failure, I want to close with a poem of an unknown confederate soldier:
"I asked for health that I might do greater things, I was given infirmity that I might do better things...
I asked for riches that I might be happy, I was given poverty that I might be wise...
I asked for power that I might have the praise of men, I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God....
I asked for all things that I might enjoy life, I was given life that I might enjoy all things...
I got nothing that I asked for but everything that I hoped for.
Almost despite myself my unspoken prayers were answered.
I am among all men most richly blessed. "
My prayers for all of you are that you will find strength in your weaknesses as you open up your heart and minds to our great God. Amen
SUCCESS and FAILURE; STRENGTH and WEAKNESS
Sermon for July 9, 2006
Scripture: 2 Sam. 5:1-5, 10; 2 Cor. 11:30-12:6-10; Mark 6:1-6a
How many of you have paid attention to a commercial featuring the great basketball player, Michael Jordan? I’m not sure what was being advertised, but Michael says: “I’ve lost over 300 games; I have been asked to take the game winning shot 26 times and missed; every time I fail I get better.” I wonder how many of you think of failure in this way. Probably not very many of you. How many of you would say with Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, “If I boast of anything, I will boast of my weakness.”? In our gospel lesson Jesus is scorned and almost run out of town by the members of his hometown synagogue. Earlier in the gospel of Mark, he has other unsuccessful interactions with of all people his family. In Mark 3:21 his family label him crazy and try to restrain him. We are told in a later verse (3:31) that his mother and siblings try again to remove him from his teaching ministry. Even with the charismatic and dearly loved David, there are many battles, many divisions, much betrayal and loss before he becomes King of all of Israel. With David, with Paul, with Jesus, and with us there are many things to face and overcome in our lives. For this sermon I am using success, not in secular, worldly terms, but to signify spiritual wholeness. Maybe a better title would be strength and weakness.
Have you ever told your spouse or your teenager something very significant and had them pay little or no attention to what you said? Then later their teacher, or counselor, or minister says the exact same thing and suddenly that truth which you first uttered is a big deal, a great insight—and they completely forgot that you said it first? I know I have been on both sides of this kind of experience. By the time our Gospel lesson took place, Jesus has done many amazing things. In the previous chapter of Mark alone, Jesus has healed the Gerasene demoniac, raised Jairus’ daughter from death, and stopped the hemorrhaging of the woman who had been bleeding for many years. There are also many earlier reports of Jesus’ miracles of healing and driving out demons.
Nazareth in the time of Jesus was a small village; I’ve seen estimates of everything from 80 to 1600 population. At any rate it was the kind of place where everyone knew everyone else, the way Deering use to be when folks like Don Johnson and his sister Hazel Vogelin were growing up here, or when Margaret Colburn came here to teach. In Mark’s writing Jesus is called a carpenter—a craftsman that was respected and reasonably well paid but socially no way near as important as a rabbi or teacher—one who devotes his life to the intellectual and the spiritual. He is also referred to in the Mark scripture as the son of Mary whereas the common reference would always be the son of the father’s name. So this is an insult that may well have to do with a slur about the legitimacy of Jesus’ birth. Remember Mary was with child before Joseph took her as his wife. Now Jesus comes back home with an entourage of disciples and preaches in the temple. Did he say something that was threatening to their status quo? Or were they simply offended at what the townspeople might have seen as his “uppity ways”? At any rate, whatever the reason, we are told that he could do no deed of power there and that he was amazed at their unbelief. Jesus states, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” (6:4)
This story is not just about Jesus’ kin rejecting him, but just as our family may not have paid any attention to our wisdom, this story is also about our being unwilling to be helped by God. We often think we have all the answers, know what’s best for ourselves and refuse to ask for help. We don’t want to seem weak or vulnerable. When it comes to weakness, Paul is certainly our best role model. Amongst the Corinthians, there were other prophets who were much sharper intellectually, more articulate. These others claimed to boast of how they were also superior to Paul in visions and revelations. Paul considers boasting about his own visions and revelations, but instead decides to tell the Corinthians about how God has given him a thorn in the flesh. We do not know what this thorn weakness was—whether a physical impairment or an emotional illness or some other thing; we do know that Paul prayed three times for God to cure him, take away this thorn and on the third prayer attempt, God tells Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”What does this mean for us? How can our weakness be turned into strength? I’m sure many of you can think about times of struggle and difficulty that you have had, maybe a heart attack or another scare about your health. Times like these can help us gain clarity, deeper insight as to what are the really important things in life. When your house has blown away in the hurricane you are very aware that whether you have new carpeting or get upset because your toddler used crayons on the wall is quite trivial. Mediocre goals like buying a new car or getting a big screen digital TV can be seen for what they are—nice frosting on the cake but certainly not necessities. When we are in a period of weakness, we can reassess and decide what it is we really want to spend our time, money and energy on. During these hard times we can also realize how many inner resources we have: resources to cope, faith to ask God to guide us and keep us going, willingness to share with a friend and allow a friend to be God’s strength for us. A good illustration of this last point is a story about a small boy trying to lift a stone much too heavy for him. His father walked by and seeing his struggles said "Are you using all your strength?" The boy said that indeed he was. But the father replied "No son, you aren't, for you haven't asked me." How much haven't we asked God about? How much of our weakness do we keep locked up inside us, because we think that there is no help for us? A large part of our strength comes from our relationship to God - the God who is able and willing to help us. There are more than just our human inner and outer resources. There is also that supra-natural grace that comes from the Divine. It’s that amazing grace that God is talking about when God tells Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in human weakness.” Probably most of you here today can remember a situation when you were floundering badly, in great pain and suffering and something Holy saved you—something other than your patience, perseverance, or good neighbors. It may have snuck up on you quietly or maybe came dramatically. At any rate there was that feeling of sustained strength and warmth that made you much stronger than you could imagine yourself to be.The 12 step programs such as Alcoholic Anonymous understand this weakness business much better than lots of church folks. Their first 3 steps are: 1) An acknowledgment of weakness; 2) a belief that one’s higher power, whom we call God, can help; and 3)the willingness to turn one’s life, including the problem drinking, over to God. As it is with alcohol, so is it with the rest of our life. As Richard Fairchild says in his online liturgies, “Until we admit our weakness, until we stop being afraid of it, until we stop denying it, we can’t find the help we need.”Paul says, ”When I am weak, then I am strong”. Most of the world thinks this is nonsense. The secular world teaches us to hide our vulnerability; power and strength are worshipped by most folks and weakness is denied and hidden. Some of you have heard me talk about how I had decided not to go into parish ministry due to my weakness in public speaking. During my social work career, I became somewhat an expert on incest and on multiple personality disorders. Every once in awhile I was asked to speak to other social work agencies on these topics. My anxiety was so great that I finally decided not to do it anymore. I never liked to hear ministers read their sermons and I couldn’t imagine ever getting up and preaching without notes. Instead of hiding this weakness I shared it with teachers and supervising ministers. I remember a Conference minister in Vermont that knew of my anxiety pointing out how dynamic a particular National officer in our denomination was when she preached using a manuscript. She and others encouraged me to stop worrying about preaching in the oral tradition that I so admired and instead become the best manuscript preacher I could be. I began preaching in this way and realized that my anxiety decreased and my confidence increased. Now I know I’m not one of the top preachers in our country by a long shot; however, through my weakness I allowed human and divine resources to help me be able to preach. God’s grace continues to be with me as I sit down at the computer. Often times what I thought I would say changes dramatically as I let the combination of my mind, my prayers, my heart, my fingers produce the sermons that I preach every week. And I have every hope as the years go by that it can be said of my ministry what was said of David in 10th verse of our OT reading, “And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.” Out of our weakness God can produce great strength; out of our failures, God’s amazing grace can bring us true spiritual success or wholeness.In keeping with this topic of weakness and strength, success and failure, I want to close with a poem of an unknown confederate soldier: I asked for health that I might do greater things, I was given infirmity that I might do better things... I asked for riches that I might be happy, I was given poverty that I might be wise... I asked for power that I might have the praise of men, I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.... I asked for all things that I might enjoy life, I was given life that I might enjoy all things... I got nothing that I asked for but everything that I hoped for. Almost despite myself my unspoken prayers were answered. I am among all men most richly blessed. My prayers for all of you are that you will find strength in your weaknesses as you open up your heart and minds to our great God. Amen
SUCCESS and FAILURE; STRENGTH and WEAKNESS
Sermon for July 9, 2006
Scripture: 2 Sam. 5:1-5, 10; 2 Cor. 11:30-12:6-10; Mark 6:1-6a
How many of you have paid attention to a commercial featuring the great basketball player, Michael Jordan? I’m not sure what was being advertised, but Michael says: “I’ve lost over 300 games; I have been asked to take the game winning shot 26 times and missed; every time I fail I get better.” I wonder how many of you think of failure in this way. Probably not very many of you. How many of you would say with Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, “If I boast of anything, I will boast of my weakness.”? In our gospel lesson Jesus is scorned and almost run out of town by the members of his hometown synagogue. Earlier in the gospel of Mark, he has other unsuccessful interactions with of all people his family. In Mark 3:21 his family label him crazy and try to restrain him. We are told in a later verse (3:31) that his mother and siblings try again to remove him from his teaching ministry. Even with the charismatic and dearly loved David, there are many battles, many divisions, much betrayal and loss before he becomes King of all of Israel. With David, with Paul, with Jesus, and with us there are many things to face and overcome in our lives. For this sermon I am using success, not in secular, worldly terms, but to signify spiritual wholeness. Maybe a better title would be strength and weakness.
Have you ever told your spouse or your teenager something very significant and had them pay little or no attention to what you said? Then later their teacher, or counselor, or minister says the exact same thing and suddenly that truth which you first uttered is a big deal, a great insight—and they completely forgot that you said it first? I know I have been on both sides of this kind of experience. By the time our Gospel lesson took place, Jesus has done many amazing things. In the previous chapter of Mark alone, Jesus has healed the Gerasene demoniac, raised Jairus’ daughter from death, and stopped the hemorrhaging of the woman who had been bleeding for many years. There are also many earlier reports of Jesus’ miracles of healing and driving out demons.
Nazareth in the time of Jesus was a small village; I’ve seen estimates of everything from 80 to 1600 population. At any rate it was the kind of place where everyone knew everyone else, the way Deering use to be when folks like Don Johnson and his sister Hazel Vogelin were growing up here, or when Margaret Colburn came here to teach. In Mark’s writing Jesus is called a carpenter—a craftsman that was respected and reasonably well paid but socially no way near as important as a rabbi or teacher—one who devotes his life to the intellectual and the spiritual. He is also referred to in the Mark scripture as the son of Mary whereas the common reference would always be the son of the father’s name. So this is an insult that may well have to do with a slur about the legitimacy of Jesus’ birth. Remember Mary was with child before Joseph took her as his wife. Now Jesus comes back home with an entourage of disciples and preaches in the temple. Did he say something that was threatening to their status quo? Or were they simply offended at what the townspeople might have seen as his “uppity ways”? At any rate, whatever the reason, we are told that he could do no deed of power there and that he was amazed at their unbelief. Jesus states, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” (6:4)
This story is not just about Jesus’ kin rejecting him, but just as our family may not have paid any attention to our wisdom, this story is also about our being unwilling to be helped by God. We often think we have all the answers, know what’s best for ourselves and refuse to ask for help. We don’t want to seem weak or vulnerable. When it comes to weakness, Paul is certainly our best role model. Amongst the Corinthians, there were other prophets who were much sharper intellectually, more articulate. These others claimed to boast of how they were also superior to Paul in visions and revelations. Paul considers boasting about his own visions and revelations, but instead decides to tell the Corinthians about how God has given him a thorn in the flesh. We do not know what this thorn weakness was—whether a physical impairment or an emotional illness or some other thing; we do know that Paul prayed three times for God to cure him, take away this thorn and on the third prayer attempt, God tells Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”What does this mean for us? How can our weakness be turned into strength? I’m sure many of you can think about times of struggle and difficulty that you have had, maybe a heart attack or another scare about your health. Times like these can help us gain clarity, deeper insight as to what are the really important things in life. When your house has blown away in the hurricane you are very aware that whether you have new carpeting or get upset because your toddler used crayons on the wall is quite trivial. Mediocre goals like buying a new car or getting a big screen digital TV can be seen for what they are—nice frosting on the cake but certainly not necessities. When we are in a period of weakness, we can reassess and decide what it is we really want to spend our time, money and energy on. During these hard times we can also realize how many inner resources we have: resources to cope, faith to ask God to guide us and keep us going, willingness to share with a friend and allow a friend to be God’s strength for us. A good illustration of this last point is a story about a small boy trying to lift a stone much too heavy for him. His father walked by and seeing his struggles said "Are you using all your strength?" The boy said that indeed he was. But the father replied "No son, you aren't, for you haven't asked me." How much haven't we asked God about? How much of our weakness do we keep locked up inside us, because we think that there is no help for us? A large part of our strength comes from our relationship to God - the God who is able and willing to help us. There are more than just our human inner and outer resources. There is also that supra-natural grace that comes from the Divine. It’s that amazing grace that God is talking about when God tells Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in human weakness.” Probably most of you here today can remember a situation when you were floundering badly, in great pain and suffering and something Holy saved you—something other than your patience, perseverance, or good neighbors. It may have snuck up on you quietly or maybe came dramatically. At any rate there was that feeling of sustained strength and warmth that made you much stronger than you could imagine yourself to be.The 12 step programs such as Alcoholic Anonymous understand this weakness business much better than lots of church folks. Their first 3 steps are: 1) An acknowledgment of weakness; 2) a belief that one’s higher power, whom we call God, can help; and 3)the willingness to turn one’s life, including the problem drinking, over to God. As it is with alcohol, so is it with the rest of our life. As Richard Fairchild says in his online liturgies, “Until we admit our weakness, until we stop being afraid of it, until we stop denying it, we can’t find the help we need.”Paul says, ”When I am weak, then I am strong”. Most of the world thinks this is nonsense. The secular world teaches us to hide our vulnerability; power and strength are worshipped by most folks and weakness is denied and hidden. Some of you have heard me talk about how I had decided not to go into parish ministry due to my weakness in public speaking. During my social work career, I became somewhat an expert on incest and on multiple personality disorders. Every once in awhile I was asked to speak to other social work agencies on these topics. My anxiety was so great that I finally decided not to do it anymore. I never liked to hear ministers read their sermons and I couldn’t imagine ever getting up and preaching without notes. Instead of hiding this weakness I shared it with teachers and supervising ministers. I remember a Conference minister in Vermont that knew of my anxiety pointing out how dynamic a particular National officer in our denomination was when she preached using a manuscript. She and others encouraged me to stop worrying about preaching in the oral tradition that I so admired and instead become the best manuscript preacher I could be. I began preaching in this way and realized that my anxiety decreased and my confidence increased. Now I know I’m not one of the top preachers in our country by a long shot; however, through my weakness I allowed human and divine resources to help me be able to preach. God’s grace continues to be with me as I sit down at the computer. Often times what I thought I would say changes dramatically as I let the combination of my mind, my prayers, my heart, my fingers produce the sermons that I preach every week. And I have every hope as the years go by that it can be said of my ministry what was said of David in 10th verse of our OT reading, “And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.” Out of our weakness God can produce great strength; out of our failures, God’s amazing grace can bring us true spiritual success or wholeness.In keeping with this topic of weakness and strength, success and failure, I want to close with a poem of an unknown confederate soldier: I asked for health that I might do greater things, I was given infirmity that I might do better things... I asked for riches that I might be happy, I was given poverty that I might be wise... I asked for power that I might have the praise of men, I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.... I asked for all things that I might enjoy life, I was given life that I might enjoy all things... I got nothing that I asked for but everything that I hoped for. Almost despite myself my unspoken prayers were answered. I am among all men most richly blessed. My prayers for all of you are that you will find strength in your weaknesses as you open up your heart and minds to our great God. Amen
B
posted by Sermons given at Deering Community Church @ 1:05 PM
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