Meditation: "Here I am!"

Scriptures: I Samuel 3:1-10, 11, 20; Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18; John 1:43-51

       I admit that I am not a big fan of football. And I am sure I am in the minority of people who would rather read a book or take a nap than watch a football game.

     Having said that, I want to talk to you today about Tim Tebow. He is the 24-year-old quarterback of the Denver Broncos, the underdog team who battled and lost 45 to 10 to the Patriots in a playoff game last night.

     And how some people just don’t get it. 

     Some Christians are embarrassed by his public display of faith. Sports writers, radio and TV talk show hosts, and comedians make fun of his repeated confessions of Christ as His Lord and Savior and constant acknowledgment of God. They have even coined a term—“Tebowing”—to describe the way he kneels, bows his head, and gives God thanks after every touchdown and victory.

      But really there’s nothing funny or embarrassing about a young man who is so pumped about his faith that he can’t stop talking about it and trying to live it out.

     That’s pretty cool, actually. During a time when there are so many famous people doing things I would rather our children and teens wouldn’t hear about, here’s a guy whose Christian faith is laid out for the world to see every time he pulls on his helmet and steps onto the football field.

     Tim has become one of the most loved and sought after men in the game. An ESPN Sports poll says Tebow was voted America's new favorite athlete.  He has been the subject of numerous TV interviews and articles, including this week’s story in Time Magazine, Tebow’s Testimony.  Even his critics predict his influence for Christianity will be greater than that of the Rev. Billy Graham’s.

         Before last night’s kickoff, Tim spent time talking with a 20-year-old who suffered a traumatic brain injury during a preseason football game in 2008. Tim met Zack McLeod through his foundation's Wish 15 program, which grants special requests for young people with serious medical issues. Minutes before the start of last Sunday's game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Tim chatted with 16-year-old Bailey Knaub, a girl who has had 73 surgeries. Jacob Rainey, a young football player who had lost his leg, was the recipient of Tebow's pre- and post-game attention in Buffalo on Christmas Eve.

         Tim says it isn’t distracting to talk with these young people he calls “courageous.” Giving hugs and offering encouraging words to someone in need, he says, “puts everything into perspective” before an important game.

       He doesn’t hesitate to share his faith story, which begins with his birth. Doctors advised his mother to seek an abortion when she was pregnant with Tim and tests revealed something was wrong. She refused. Tim’s parents, former Baptist missionaries to the Philippines, are pro-life. Tim was safely delivered, despite a barely attached placenta.  Doctors called it a miracle. 

      Tim was, of course, raised in the church.  He was homeschooled and had to memorize Scripture if he wanted to watch TV.  He gave his life to Christ when he was 6. His talent for football became evident by the time he was a teen. He was so hotly recruited in high school that he was the subject of an ESPN documentary called The Chosen One. 

      Despite his passion and commitment to football as a student at the University of Florida, Tim still found time for ministry. While he led the team to a national championship, he also led Bible studies and preached in prisons, schools and hospitals.

      Tebow’s story came to mind this week as I studied our scripture readings. Psalm 139 is a favorite of pro-life activists. The psalm reminds me of Tim’s miraculous birth and his mother’s refusal to get an abortion. The psalmist speaks of how intimately Our Creator knows us and thinks wondrous thoughts about us we cannot understand. “For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made... My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret…Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.  In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.”

      In John’s gospel, Philip without hesitation responds to the Lord’s call to discipleship. And he can’t wait to find Nathanael and tell him about Jesus. Philip then leads Nathanael to meet Christ. He says, “Come and see.”  Tebow, too, is an enthusiastic disciple and invites others into relationship with Christ, something we are all called to do.

      In I Samuel, though the young boy receives a much more intense religious upbringing than Tebow experienced, it is the same idea of being nurtured in an environment of faith from a very early age. Samuel’s mother, Hannah, honors her promise to God and gives Samuel, when he is still a baby, to the Lord for Eli the priest to raise in the temple.

      Samuel, like Philip, allows God to use him and spread His word to the people. Samuel receives a special gift; he is able to hear God’s voice and see His visions. As a prophet, Samuel exhibits a kind of radical honesty that people cannot ignore. He shares God’s message no matter how unpleasant or unpopular.

     And God blesses him for his faithfulness. I Samuel 4 says, “As Samuel grew up, the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground… All Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet of the Lord.”

     After our Bible lessons today, I hope you will be inspired to read more about Samuel, who served as a judge and lawmaker for God’s people and anointed Israel’s first king.  May you savor the radical honesty and faithfulness of Samuel as a young boy who heard God’s voice and obeyed.

    And may you be inspired by Philip’s enthusiastic response to Christ’s call to discipleship and his excitement to introduce someone else to Jesus.

    And although the Bible is our only reliable authority for faith and life and Christ is the only perfect model for us, I hope some of Tim Tebow’s passionate Christian witness has made an impression on you. He has made an impression on me.

      I appreciate Tim’s courage to share his beliefs, no matter what the cost to his career and despite criticism and ridicule. I am impressed with his attitude of gratefulness—giving thanks to God for every good thing in his life. And I admire his willingness, in spite of his busy schedule and the pressures he must be feeling before and after a game, to give of himself and

care for strangers like young Zack, Bailey Knaub, and Jacob Rainey.

       I am sure Tim’s faith wasn’t shaken by last night’s game—when the Patriots stomped his team.  Nor would his faith be shaken by any loss on the football field. He said as much some time ago when asked why he takes time before every game to try and help someone who is suffering or dying.          

     “The game doesn't really matter,” Tim said. “I mean, I'll give 100 percent of my heart to win it, but in the end, the thing I most want to do is not win championships or make a lot of money, it's to invest in people's lives, to make a difference.” 

       Let us take with us today, then, the message to be bolder with our witness and more faithful to God’s call. Let us be more grateful for what the Lord has done.

       Let us be more willing to give of ourselves and invest in people’s lives so we, too, can make a difference.

       Let us listen for God’s voice and be ready to respond like Samuel, “Here I am!”

Meditation for the Baptism of Our Lord

Scriptures: Matt 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22; John 1:29-34.         

      Amidst the flurry of news coverage surrounding the race for the Republican nomination for president, we find that a candidate’s Christian beliefs are as important as ever to American voters in 2012.

       But some candidates are more open about their beliefs than others.

       Romney has been a Mormon bishop, leading worship and teaching Bible and the Book of Mormon and overseeing more than a dozen congregations. But he rarely talks about his faith publicly.

      Huntsman, also a Mormon, is more open. He said, "I believe in God. I'm a good Christian. I'm very proud of my Mormon heritage."

      Santorum is passionately pro-life and openly shares personal experiences that affected his faith. He is Roman Catholic. In 1996, his wife developed a life-threatening infection while pregnant; their son Gabriel was born at 20 weeks. He lived for only two hours. And Santorum and his wife have a 3-year-old daughter, Bella, with Trisomy 18, a rare, serious genetic disorder. Only 1 in 10 children with this disorder make it to their 1^st birthday.

       Gingrich was raised Lutheran and became Baptist as an adult. He converted to Catholicism in 2009 after his marriage to a Catholic woman. He decided to convert when he saw Pope Benedict XVI on his visit to the United States in 2008. He says, "Catching a glimpse of Pope Benedict that day, I was struck by the happiness and peacefulness he exuded. The joyful and radiating presence of the Holy Father was a moment of confirmation about the many things I had been thinking and experiencing for several years." 

     Perry grew up Methodist but attends a nondenominational church in Texas. Perry openly professes belief in the inerrancy of the Bible, intelligent design, and that people who do not accept Christ as their Savior will go to hell. He has taken some flak for saying that.

     Bachmann, who pulled out of the race this week, was raised Wisconsin Synod Lutheran. She defends her beliefs. She said, "I love Catholics, I'm a Christian, and my church does not believe that the Pope is the Anti-Christ."

     A presidential candidate’s Christianity has always been important. Take Thomas Jefferson running against John Adams in the election of 1800. Jefferson, a wealthy plantation owner from Virginia, had to defend himself against the Federalist’s accusation that he was anti-Christ. Jefferson was a deist, professing faith in God. He prided himself on his power to reason and think scientifically. He distrusted all organized religion. The primary author of the Declaration of Independence was a staunch believer in the separation of church and state.  He denied that he was anti-Christ, but refused to share more, saying one’s faith is a private matter. He claimed his right to conscience, a right that was protected by our laws. He won the election, without revealing his true feelings about Christ and Christianity. A few years later, he told his friend, Dr. Benjamin Rush, that Christianity had been corrupted by the church AND by the gospel writers themselves. They added the miraculous stuff—the virgin birth, angelic proclamations, healings, exorcisms, and so on.  Jefferson said he was a Christian “in the only sense that Jesus would want anyone to be,” that he was “sincerely attached to all his doctrines, in preference to all others.”  He ascribed to Christ “all human excellence” and believed that Christ never claimed to be anything but human.

       Years passed. Jefferson was moved to piece together a book that would prove, once and for all, that he was a REAL Christian. He took out a sharp blade, perhaps his penknife, and cut out the New Testament verses he deemed authentic and threw away the scraps with miraculous details, including references to the Resurrection.  Then he pasted the selected verses onto a clean, blank book. The public did not know about the book, but his grandchildren published it after his death. The Jefferson Bible: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth is displayed in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.

       Jefferson’s Bible ends abruptly with Christ’s burial. Joseph of Arimethea and Nicodemus lay Jesus inside the tomb, roll a great stone in front of the entrance, and depart.

       As you might expect, his book treats the baptism of Jesus very differently than the gospel accounts we read today. The Jefferson Bible says of the baptism, “Then cometh Jesus from Galilee unto John, to be baptized by him.” That’s it.  Nothing more. 

     In our whole, uncut New Testaments, the baptism story with some variations is found in all four gospels. Each one tells of the Holy Spirit descending like a dove onto Christ. Three of the gospels speak of the voice from heaven. In Matthew, the voice says, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” In Mark and Luke, the voice addresses Christ, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

      John is convinced that Jesus is the Son of God because he sees the Spirit in a form of a dove.  This is the same Spirit that moved over the face of the waters at Creation. Rabbis have long spoke of the Spirit of God fluttering like a dove over the ancient chaos, breathing order and beauty into it. The dove in Palestine was a sacred bird, not hunted or eaten.  The picture of the dove was one that the Jews, including John, knew and loved. 

      The Hebrew word translated Spirit is ruach.  It means literally wind or breath.  The Spirit was power.  The Spirit was life. 

      The Spirit was God.

       I shared the Matthew account of Jesus’ baptism this week when I was visiting Henry and Jeanette. Henry had just been moved to the nursing home in Olivia from the hospital a day or two before.  The couple that will celebrate their wedding anniversary this week is separated, perhaps for the first time in many years, because of Henry’s health problems. You can imagine how hard this is for them.        

      We reached out to God in prayer, clinging to our hope in Christ when life is so filled with struggle, pain, and uncertainty.  I thanked God for His Spirit that came upon Jesus at His baptism, the same Spirit that comes to us at our baptism and transforms us into new creatures in Christ.  I asked that God’s Spirit would heal Henry and bring comfort and peace to the family. I thanked God for the Spirit that stays with us, guiding, comforting and giving us strength, wherever we are.  Because the Spirit of God dwells within us, we are never alone.

     As Christians who seek to obey God’s will and glorify Him with our lives, we must be willing and able to publicly confess our personal conviction in Christ our Redeemer.  The confession must come from the heart.

     Contrary to what Jefferson claimed, a real Christian knows it isn’t enough to accept Christ as an excellent man, with admirable words and deeds. He is also the Lamb of God, as John says, who takes away the sin of the world. Like John, I am convinced that Jesus is the Son of God, and that the Holy Spirit descended on Him at baptism.  I believe there was a voice from heaven, and it was God, saying, “My Son, my beloved.”

       And because of what God has done for us through Christ, God sees all who trust in Christ as their Savior as His beloved.  We are reconciled with God.  We have peace with God, in this world and in the world to come.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for speaking to us in Your Word.  Thank you for your loving Spirit that transforms us, shows us your Will, and guides our thoughts and movements every day. Thank you for your Son Jesus Christ and the salvation you offer to the world through belief on Him. Lord, we ask that you heal Henry. Take away his pain.  Help him to walk again. Give him comfort and peace.  Please open a space for him, if it is Your will, in the nursing home in Renville. So he and Jeanette can be together again. In Christ we pray.  Amen.

“My Eyes Have Seen Your Salvation”

Meditation on Luke 2:22-38

The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple; 

Simeon and Anna Bear Witness to the Redeemer 
 

       I met Julian of Norwich in a seminary history class. The anchoress and writer in 14^th century England was chosen by her community to live in a room of her church and serve God in the quiet through prayer, fasting, worship, and contemplative reading. Julian offered spiritual advice and comfort to people who came to her window that opened onto an alley. Her life was a stark contrast to the violent, frightening times in which she lived… through the Hundred Years War and the devastating outbreaks of Black Plague.

       Julian was stirred to write after she received a series of visions during a grave illness.  The visions began while she gazed at a crucifix and a man, believing she was dying, performed last rites. Her revelations focus on the love of Christ who was willing to suffer even more for the salvation of human beings and the love of God who was willing to sacrifice His own Son for the sake of all who are Christ’s followers or, as she puts it, Christ’s “lovers.” 

       Julian, amazingly, writes of a God with no wrath for humanity when the Medieval Church is preaching the opposite—the wrath of God being poured out on people and nations because of sin.

     She learns through her visions—both visual and auditory—that in Christ, God does not blame us for our sin. The wrath is all on man’s part—not on God’s. She finds hope when she hears Christ speak of a marvelous mystery hidden in God that will be revealed to us in Heaven, where we will have endless joy and bliss with Him.

      Christ tenderly assures Julian that despite the sin and suffering in her world, “all shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.”

***

      Anna in our Luke reading today reminds me of Julian, in some respects.  Anna also lives in her house of worship, the temple.  She serves God with prayer and fasting, night and day.  She is only married 7 years when her husband dies. She does not remarry, despite the certain economic struggle she will have without a husband to care for and provide for her. She is either 84 years old or has been a widow for 84 years—it isn’t clear in this passage. 

      We know less about Julian’s personal life—not even her real name. She likely took the name of her church – St. Julian’s—when she took the vows of an anchoress, symbolically shedding her former, worldly identity. Like Anna, she may well have been an elderly widow.  But not having the freedom to leave her room or church, Julian preaches the gospel through her writings, which are miraculously preserved for hundreds of years. 

      Luke calls Anna a “prophetess.” She is the only one in the New Testament to bear this title.  A prophetess, like a prophet, has spiritual eyes to see what others cannot. Anna enters just as Simeon is giving his blessing to Mary, Joseph and Jesus.  Simeon, an elderly man, very touchingly tells God that he can now die in peace, “For my eyes have seen Your salvation….”

      But God uses Anna—not Simeon—to carry His message out to the world. Anna sees the infant and knows she has come face to face with her Savior. She gives thanks to God, and then, probably for the first time in many years, she leaves the temple. The elderly widow goes out into Jerusalem to preach the Good News of God’s redemption to all who seek to be redeemed.

***

     On Friday, when I was preparing this message, I took a long walk.  It was the day we had woken up to the surprise of a dusting of snow all around. I paused a while in front of our Nativity scene on the church lawn to consider the work of Christ that began with such a humble birth. My mind drifted to how 2 men worked hard to rebuild and strengthen the wooden shelter. It can now withstand wind and blowing snow to protect the 10 hollow plastic figurines inside. Those figurines may not look like much in the light of day, with their white power cords visible and their paint looking weathered and worn from decades of use. But after the sun goes down, the scene takes on an entirely different look. Bathed in soft, golden light, our Nativity announces to all who drive by on County Road 6 that Christ has arrived!

      And God is with us, still.

      The Nativity became a familiar and peaceful sight for me during the weeks leading up to Christmas. Just as the sun rose every morning to welcome the day, the warm glow—cast by 3 sheep and a shepherd; 3 kings bearing gifts; and Mary and Joseph with the Baby Jesus—greeted the night.

       Then yesterday afternoon, I looked out my window, and the Nativity was gone! Those who had labored so hard to set it up at the beginning of the season had taken it down.

        After all, it was New Year’s Eve. It was time to put away our Christmas decorations.  Our trees.  Our lights. Our stars. Our Nativity scenes. 

        But I felt sad.

        And then a song came to mind that dispelled my gloom. It was “Joy to the World.”

     “Joy to the world!  The Lord is come.  Let earth receive her king.  Let every heart prepare Him room.  And heaven and nature sing.  And heaven and nature sing.  And heaven and heaven and nature sing.”

      The Spirit was reminding me that although Dec. 25 has passed, Christmas is not really over. It doesn’t end when we put away the decorations.

       The Lord is come! Let earth receive her King.

      Christmas isn’t stored in boxes and bags in basements with strings of lights, angel ornaments, and figurines that glow. These are only reminders, symbols, of God’s sacrificial gift to us—forgiveness and new life through His Son.

      Let every heart prepare Him room!

      Christmas is forever inside of us, where we have made a place for Christ to dwell. He is as close to us as our beating hearts. His loving Spirit fills and renews us with every breath we take.

      Wherever we go, we carry the vision of God’s salvation.  The vision gives us the boldness to speak the Good News to those who don’t know Christ. And the vision comforts us as we eagerly await our Redeemer’s return.  When we, like Simeon and Anna, will see our Lord face to face. And we will say, “My eyes have seen Your salvation.”

      And heaven and nature sing.  And heaven and nature sing.  And heaven and heaven and nature sing.