April 2021

April 25 2021

April 25, 2021 – “Activists: Loving God through Confrontation” by Rev. Cody Sandahl

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First Reading = Mark 11:15-18

15Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves; 16and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17He was teaching and saying, “Is it not written,

‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’?But you have made it a den of robbers.”

18And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching.

Introduction

We are still in our series looking at spiritual pathways – nine different ways we are designed to walk toward and love God. You aren’t going to resonate with all of these, but we’re trying to help you find two or three main ways God designed you to walk toward him. Last week we talked about traditionalists – loving God through ritual and symbol and traditions. The core idea there is to find deep meaning in the acts of faith that you believe are worth repeating.

This week we are talking about activists – loving God through conflict. Those who walk the activist spiritual pathway serve a God of justice, and they believe the world should reflect God’s justice. In fact, they’re willing to push and pressure and even fight for God’s justice.

Now, I don’t think you know this about me already, but I’m going to let you in on a little secret. I can read minds. It’s true! I can see inside your mind. As I was just talking about activists and conflict and justice, I could see the red flashing lights and blaring warning sirens inside your head! Even through the Internet – I still saw those flashing lights in your mind!

I am fully aware that this topic comes with a warning label on it, and in my mind I see the Robot from Lost in Space, saying, “Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!”

So let’s talk about that. This is a uniquely difficult topic for our church because we have a wide range of theological and political beliefs. Pick any national news outlet, and we probably have 20% of our church who love that news source and 20% who hate it and 40% who fall in between.

When it works, our broad spectrum of thought can be a good thing. It’s a little glimpse of heaven. There are going to be people in heaven who called themselves conservatives on earth. There will be people in heaven who called themselves liberals on earth. There will be people in heaven who called themselves independents or even apolitical on earth. So, yay us! We have a little glimpse of heaven.

But it also creates friction and drama and difficulties that more unified churches don’t have to worry about.

Typically we approach this by trying not to talk about topics that are full of theological or political landmines. But that approach runs into two limits.

First, we run into what Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees who were so concerned with their own faith journey but didn’t do anything for their communities. Jesus said in Matthew 23 – “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.”

Among justice, mercy, and faith, Jesus mentioned justice first. We can’t ignore that. I am not in the business of ignoring Jesus.

The second limit we run into when we just try to avoid difficult topics is that there are people in our church who are designed to love God by seeking justice. We aren’t going to tell an intellectual they can’t have a Bible study. We aren’t going to tell a naturalist they can’t pray on a nature walk. We aren’t going to tell a traditionalist that their rituals and traditions don’t matter. I don’t believe we can tell the activists in our church that they aren’t allowed to seek Biblical justice.

But how we do that is very complicated and fraught in a church like ours. That doesn’t mean we can’t or shouldn’t do it, but it’s hard. So we’ll circle back to that later – how can a church like ours make a way for the activists in our church to seek Biblical justice without torpedoing relationships in our church at the same time? And the answer to that is…Oh look at the time! I should just say Amen and get us out of here! Just kidding. We’ll get to that.

But I want to get one more idea out there before we dive in. I’ve used the phrase “Biblical justice” today, and I gave a whole sermon on that last year. The words “justice” and “injustice” have been in the news quite a bit lately. And they have been used to mean a very wide spectrum of thought. So I want to remind us about “Biblical justice.” Biblical justice is making earth look more like heaven. Biblical justice is making our community a better reflection of God’s original intent for Creation. Biblical justice is making the world around us a better reflection of the new heaven and the new earth in Revelation.

That still leaves a wide range of interpretation, but it at least gives us a measuring stick.

So let me recap what we’re talking about today. We are talking about those who are designed to walk toward and love God by making their community a better reflection of what we’ll experience in heaven. And since our world is so far away from that, they have a long and tough battle ahead of them.

We already heard the classic text about Jesus overturning the tables of the money changers outside the Temple. Our next text today is from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. The context is very similar to what Jesus told the scribes and Pharisees as I mentioned earlier. The nation of Israel in this text was religious. They were singing the right songs. They were praying at the right times. They were holding the sacred festivals. They were sacrificing at the Temple. But God didn’t like the kind of society they had created outside of their religious activities.

Sermon Reading = Isaiah 58:1-14

58Shout out, do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins. 2Yet day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God.

3“Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?” Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers. 4Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist. Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high. 5Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? 6Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

8Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. 9Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, 10if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. 11The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. 12Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.

13If you refrain from trampling the sabbath, from pursuing your own interests on my holy day; if you call the sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs; 14then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Fight for What’s Right

Well a few years ago, one young man was trying to gain signatures for his petition. Here’s how one of the interactions went between him and a young woman.

“Do you consider yourself to be a feminist?” “Definitely!”

“I’m having people sign a petition to end women’s suffrage. Is that something you’d want to do?”

<pause> “Sure. Where is this ending happening? Everywhere on the planet?”

“I mean, that’s kind of the idea.”

“Yeah. Let’s end women’s suffrage! Finally!”

Now, here’s a pro tip. If someone is asking you to sign a petition, and they have a camera recording you, just walk away. You’re walking into a trap! Which is exactly what happened here. Because, of course, women’s suffrage is NOT women’s suffer-ING. Suffrage means the right to vote! He was pranking people into signing a petition against women’s right to vote as a joke. Ah, the vagaries of the English language.

But in 1876, women’s suffrage was no laughing matter in Colorado. Activists attempted to enshrine women’s right to vote in the state’s constitution. That attempt failed, but they did get a provision that made women’s right to vote only need a simple majority instead of a 2/3 majority.

With that first small victory, Susan B Anthony and Lucy Stone swooped in to speak in favor of granting women the right to vote. It was a difficult road with a lot of opposition, but they persisted.

And in 1877, a referendum was held on granting women the right to vote. Newspapers all across Colorado anticipated a yes vote. And then, when the vote were counted…it was a landslide defeat.

It would take sixteen more years before the next referendum on granting women’s suffrage would make the ballot in Colorado. This time, Carrie Chapman spearheaded the effort, and as one paper said about her, “Mrs. Chapman is very able, eloquent and magnetic and made a splendid plea for simple justice to one half of the citizens of the state.” This time, the referendum passed!

Interestingly, it passed with 55% of the vote. If the activists in 1876 hadn’t gained the provision that made granting women’s suffrage a simple majority, it would have failed because it didn’t have 2/3 of the vote. Seventeen years of battles – of small victories and crushing defeats – culminated in Colorado granting women the right to vote in 1893.

With the benefit of more than a century of distance from that referendum, it’s not controversial. But I would be curious to know what was being said in this little Presbyterian church in downtown Littleton that was only 10 years old at the time. I bet women’s suffrage was a hot button topic for First Presbyterian Church of Littleton in 1893.

Susan B Anthony is a great example of someone who walked the activist spiritual pathway. She was raised as a Quaker, and her church taught that God created all people as equal. They believed that no gender or race or class had special status in the eyes of God.

Motivated by her faith, Susan B Anthony worked tirelessly to make a society that better reflected God’s intent as best she knew it. Her conviction was that putting men and women on equal footing was making earth look a little more like heaven.

But I’m going to switch over the cars for a moment instead of voting. I had a friend who liked to park illegally. It was like a game for him. And he had all these tricks to make it really hard to tow his car or put a boot on it. He knew how to park at a weird angle, with his tires turned a particular way, just close enough to some other car or obstacle. His goal was to make his car as hard to move as possible. Like, you would need a bulldozer to move his illegally parked car!

Someone who walks the activist spiritual pathway knows that they are trying to change things that have just as much resistance as my friend’s illegally parked car. To change something you believe is wrong, to generate momentum against something deeply entrenched, you can’t coast. You have to be a bulldozer to move that thing!

That’s why an activist loves God through conflict – they are trying to bulldoze a major problem in the name of God. As Susan B Anthony demonstrated, that doesn’t come easily or without a fight. Usually lots of fights. So those who walk the activist spiritual pathway are willing to engage in those difficult fights to make the world a better reflection of heaven. In our text today, God told Isaiah he would have to “Shout out, do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet!” A whisper isn’t going to change anything.

Biblical Justice

This last year has certainly revealed many ways our world does not reflect heaven. So this next question should be easy. What are some ways that you look at the world, and it doesn’t reflect what you expect to find in heaven? Where does our world depart from God’s vision and plan? What stands out to you?

God highlights several things in our text from Isaiah. Let’s run through some of these examples. God tells Isaiah that Israel needs to “loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke.” God says, “share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them.” God says, “if you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness…then the Lord will guide you continually…then you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in…then you shall take delight in the Lord.”

So if Biblical justice is making the earth a better reflection of heaven, this text gives us a laundry list of differences between what we experience on earth and what we will experience on heaven. These are potential opportunities for activists to seek Biblical justice.

People are hungry on earth. No one’s hungry in heaven.

People are homeless on earth. No one’s homeless in heaven.

People are unclothed on earth. No one’s unclothed in heaven.

People are oppressed and chained on earth. No one’s oppressed or chained in heaven.

People point fingers judgmentally and speak evil on earth. No one points fingers at each other or speaks evil in heaven.

People are afflicted with diseases on earth. No one is afflicted with disease in heaven.

These are just a handful of the huge number of examples in the Bible where God points out the gap between what a community or society is doing and what God intends. You’ll see this in the Old and New Testament. I’ve already given you two examples from Jesus himself. Just a quick search revealed 328 times across the Old and New Testaments that the Bible speaks of justice. Those are the verses that move the Christians who walk the activist spiritual pathway.

Pitfalls

So the activist spiritual pathway is clearly on solid Biblical footing when it speaks of serving a God of justice.

But, as with every spiritual pathway, there are some common pitfalls to watch out for.

The most obvious pitfall is becoming judgmental. Judgmental toward those who disagree, and also judgmental toward those who just don’t care as much as they “should”. This one is super common. But remember that God told Isaiah one of the injustices was people pointing fingers at each other judgmentally and speaking evil about each other. So being judgmental toward others is creating an injustice while you’re seeking to address a different injustice!

Another common pitfall for activists is focusing on their cause with such laser focus that they neglect their own personal behavior or spiritual journey. Someone who is a bully in their fight against bullies is still a bully themselves. You get the idea. And many people have lost their faith because they wrapped up their identity in their cause instead of the God who gave them purpose through that cause to begin with.

Another common pitfall is to leave God out of the picture. An activist can get so wrapped up in their actions and stats and measurements and arguments that they forget to pray. Seeking Biblical justice requires sincerity, effort, and thoughtful prayer. God opens doors that would otherwise be closed. God closes doors that would otherwise be traps. God works in people’s hearts in ways far deeper than words.

Spiritual Practices and First Pres Littleton

So to recap, those who walk toward God on the activist spiritual pathway see the hundreds of ways that God addresses justice in the Bible, and they want to make our world a better reflection of God’s intent. This can’t be done quietly. It requires what God told Isaiah in our text today – “Shout out, do not hold back!” But an activist is prone to being judgmental, neglecting their own behavior or faith journey, or leaving God out of the cause they are championing in his name.

That’s all well and good for an individual who walks the activist spiritual pathway. If you are moved by some aspect of God’s Biblical justice, if you see a way the world could better reflect heaven, if you have a way to plug into that cause, fabulous!

But if we’re trying to make a way for all nine of these spiritual pathways to practice their faith here at First Pres Littleton, and that’s exactly what I’m trying to do, what does that look like? And what does that look like given the huge range of thought we have? We might all agree that there are people who are hungry, and there are people who are homeless, and there are people who are afflicted with diseases, but there’s no chance that we all agree on what should be done about it and who should be doing it.

I’m still working this out, but my best idea is to focus on a few areas where we have proven resonance within our church.

For example, the monthly free Community Dinner has proven resonance within our church. We’re looking forward to re-starting that sometime later this year. Lots of people are involved. There’s a strong leadership team. The church supports it readily. We get to address hunger and loneliness in our community because we have such a relational approach to the meal. That’s a proven resonance within our church.

Whiz Kids tutoring is another proven resonance within our church. Kudos to Roberta and her team for keeping that going through COVID. Again, lots of people are involved. We have leadership and support. And we get to provide tutoring, snacks, a Bible time, and – this is crucial – transportation for the kids. That’s a proven resonance within our church.

Our church responds readily and generously to food drives. Our most recent one blew away the food bank because of the quantity and quality of the food items you donated.

So those have proven resonance. If you walk the activist spiritual pathway and you’re moved by something on that list, you can use your energy with others here at this church pretty easily. I’m happy to connect you with the right people.

Let me throw out another idea that we don’t yet know if it has resonance with our church. It’s interesting, it’s a major need in our community, it’s something we can do better than most, and it’s similar to things we’ve done in the past so it might find resonance in our church.

Our church administrator, Elinor, had the idea to offer showers for those who are experiencing homelessness in our community. We’ve been working on this for a few months, so we have a lot of the groundwork already laid. She even found a potential partner who already has a shower trailer at a church in Denver, so they already know how to do it well, we could go see what they do, and we could probably get their trailer down here once a month.

When I spoke with our partners at GraceFull Cafe, they said that hygiene is the #2 need of those experiencing homelessness in our community – finding a home would be #1. Showers and maybe washing clothes would help address their #2 need.

We have already done a lot of research. We’re continuing to work on things like permits from the city. We have a couple of people who would be interested in helping.

But for this to become resonant within our church we would need a point person – a leader – who is interested and capable of organizing and running with this. So we’re going to keep knocking down the logistical barriers, keep getting our ducks in a row, and keep praying for a passionate, committed, and capable leader to take the baton. If that doesn’t happen, then I guess it’s not resonant within our church. If a leader does arise, then this is resonant within our church. We’ll find out. Our church used to host homeless families for a week as part of a rotation of churches, so this is in a similar vein to something that resonated in the past.

If you might want to help, or if you feel like you might be a potential leader to take that baton, contact me or contact Elinor.

That’s an example of how I think we can approach the activist spiritual pathway within our church. Look for ways to address gaps between what we see on earth and what we will see in heaven. Look for topics and issues that are within the same vein as other efforts that have proven to be resonant within our church. If the pieces come together, fantastic. If the pieces don’t come together, then perhaps it’s just not resonant enough within our church.

Summary

Sisters and brothers, those who walk the activist spiritual pathway serve the God of Biblical justice, and they want to see earth be a better reflection of what we’ll see in heaven. But that can’t be done quietly – it often takes a bulldozer.

This is a uniquely challenging spiritual pathway for our church, but I do believe there are some resonant issues where a critical mass of our church can support the efforts of those motivated to change our community into a better reflection of God’s intent.

I know it would be easier to just ignore everything that could make one faction or another upset. And we’ve done a fair bit of that. But I found literally hundreds of examples in the Bible of God getting mad at religious communities for doing that.

So how might we empower the spiritual activists in our church to lead us toward deeper impact in our community on some issues that resonate in our church? There isn’t a really easy answer to that for First Pres Littleton, but I raise the question because I believe it is imperative that we ask it. Will you pray on that question with me? Amen.

April 18 2021

April 18, 2021 – “Traditionalists: Loving God through Ritual and Symbol”

codysandahl Sermons

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First Reading = Genesis 12:7-8; 13:18

7Then the Lord appeared to Abram, and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and invoked the name of the Lord. 18So Abram moved his tent, and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron; and there he built an altar to the Lord.

Introduction

We are still in our series looking at the spiritual pathways – the nine different ways that people have been designed to walk toward God. You won’t resonate with all of them, but we’re trying to help you find your top two or three so you know how to walk toward God on your own spiritual journey. Once again, this is based on the book Sacred Pathways by Gary Thomas – pick it up if you are a reader. It’s really good. And we have a full discussion guide for each of the nine pathways on the Spiritual Journey tab of our website.

Over the last two weeks we have talked about the enthusiast spiritual pathway – loving God with mystery and celebration and experience. And we’ve talked about the naturalist spiritual pathway – loving God in nature. This week we are looking at the traditionalist spiritual pathway – loving God through ritual and symbol.

At the beginning of COVID, I shared that I didn’t think we are in the same boat together. We’re in the same storm, but we’re in different boats because it affects us all differently. These different spiritual pathways have been affected very differently over the past year, too. Like the ascetic who thrives on alone time? They’re good! The naturalist? The sun and the moon and the mountains didn’t take a COVID break. The intellectual? They probably got extra alone time to study! All of that’s a little tongue in cheek, but you get the idea.

But the traditionalist? To the traditionalist, COVID has been like an atomic bomb obliterating everything that brings them closer to God. The religious rituals and symbols and shared practices that define the rhythms of faith for the traditionalist pathway have been dramatically affected by the last year, so I want to take a moment. I want to take a moment to pause and recognize the damage that has been done to the faith walk of the traditionalists in our church.

If you are a traditionalist who loves God through ritual and symbol and tradition, your path to God might look like a tornado tore through town. I want you to know that you are seen. You are heard. We feel for you. And let’s see if we can clear off some of that debris and get your pathway to God restored.

Our text today is from the book of Revelation. This is a scene of heaven. And for our purposes today, don’t try to understand what’s going on. Just listen for their acts of worship. Listen for their acts of devotion. Listen for their rituals. Got it? We’re not trying to understand the book of Revelation today. We’re just asking, what are the angels doing up in heaven?

Sermon Reading = Revelation 5:9-14

9They sing a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slaughtered and by your blood you ransomed for God saints from every tribe and language and people and nation; 10you have made them to be a kingdom and priests serving our God, and they will reign on earth.” 11Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne and the living creatures and the elders; they numbered myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12singing with full voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” 13Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, singing, “To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” 14And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the elders fell down and worshiped.

Spiritual Touchstones

As you know, there are many different English translations of the Bible. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. If you’re looking for a Bible that’s easy to understand while also sticking pretty close to versions you’ve heard before, I recommend the New Living Translation.

If you’re stuck in a rut and need a creative interpretation to help you see God’s Word from new perspectives, I recommend The Message or The Voice. The Message really makes the Psalms and Proverbs come to life.

When I’m studying, I usually use the English Standard Version because it sticks really close to the underlying Greek and Hebrew texts, so it helps me spot the interesting linguistic challenges.

Our pew Bibles are the New Revised Standard Version, which is a pretty good all-around translation. New International Version is good all-around, too.

But let’s talk about Psalm 23, and let’s be real, now. “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” That’s some powerful imagery, right? The King James makes that turn of poetry come alive!

Here’s how the New Revised Standard Version puts it: “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me.” Man, after growing up on “valley of the shadow of death,” I can’t read “darkest valley” with a straight face! In fact, when I read Psalm 23 aloud, I use the New Revised version for everything else, but I say “valley of the shadow of death” instead of “darkest valley” while I’m reading it. Darkest valley just ain’t the same! It doesn’t move me!

We have heard “valley of the shadow of death” so many times, it’s like a ritual. It’s a religious mile marker. It’s like one of those stone altars we heard Abram made everywhere he went in our first text today. Those meaningful words are a ritual. And I mean those exact meaningful words. Darkest valley doesn’t do it. Really dark place doesn’t do it. Even the Message’s version, “Even when the way goes through Death Valley” – that still doesn’t do it! Give me “valley of the shadow of death” every time and twice on Tuesdays! Those exact words are the meaningful phrase. Those exact words move me toward God.

That’s an example of the traditionalist spiritual pathway. When something meaningful is repeated over and over again, and instead of becoming boring it becomes a spiritual touchstone that draws you into the presence of God. For the traditionalist, a ritual is like the smell of your mother’s kitchen growing up – that smell isn’t just about the moment, because it brings back a flood of memories. And that meaningful connection, that spiritual response, is what distinguishes spiritual ritual from empty ritual.

In our text from Revelation – you didn’t try to understand it, did you? I warned you about that! In our text from Revelation, the heavenly beings were enjoying some rituals. They sang with “full voice” that Jesus was worthy. They fell down and worshiped God. They gathered in worship with “myriad and myriad thousands and thousands.” They shouted “Amen!” together! These are some similar patterns to our earthly worship, but from this description in Revelation, I’m guessing it’s qualitatively different in heaven.

So what are some of those spiritual touchstones for you? Are there any songs or hymns that bring up loads of spiritual memories? Amazing Grace? Joy to the World? Handel’s Messiah?

For me, Be Thou My Vision has always been one of the most important hymns. I am constantly seeking the vision and wisdom and direction of God. My mom bursts into tears every time a church plays “Hear I Am Lord.” These are spiritual touchstones.

Are there any Scriptures that have been spiritual touchstones for you? Any verses from the Bible that still bring up memories and experiences and emotions?

I have many important Scriptures, but this one stands out as one that touches off memories from my spiritual journey. Romans 8:38-39 – “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

That’s a spiritual touchstone for me. Hearing it is as comforting as a meaningful ritual to me. Are there any Bible verses that are as comforting and familiar to you as the smell of your mother’s kitchen growing up? Those special Scriptures are spiritual touchstones.

Are there any symbols or works of art that have been spiritual touchstones for you? For some it’s the crucifix – Jesus suffering on the cross. For some it’s prayer beads. For some it’s a ring or a bracelet. For some it’s a great work of art. Symbols and art can be spiritual touchstones.

What are some songs or Scriptures or symbols or works of art that have been spiritual touchstones throughout your life?

Pitfalls

Now, as with every spiritual pathway, there are some common pitfalls. I want to highlight two.

The first common pitfall for those who walk toward God through ritual, symbol, and tradition is to just go through the motions. The difference between a meaningful ritual and an empty ritual is the meaning you bring to it.

The words aren’t magical. The songs aren’t magical. The symbols aren’t magical. It’s the intersection of your memories or your thoughts or your experiences or your emotions with the words or songs or symbols that creates a meaningful traditionalist experience.

So if the same old habits and Scriptures and songs and practices aren’t moving you anymore, I would recommend one of two things. Either rekindle the original meaning that so moved you, or try to develop some new rituals. In our text today from Revelation, they also sang one new song! So if you’re falling into the pitfall of just going through the motions, either rekindle the original meaning or try something new.

For the second pitfall, let me tell you about streamers. You know, those flow-y, wavy, wispy things. Streamers. Let me tell you about streamers.

One of the churches I attended in my 20’s had a hint of Pentecostal experience in its worship. And one group of congregants up front worshiped God with their streamers. They would move and dance and sway with their arms in the air, streamers tracing patterns all around them.

You could not pay me to do that! OK, I probably can be bought on that, but the number has a lot of zeroes on it! And I guarantee you’ll have buyer’s remorse after watching me. Streamers do nothing for me. Actually, they kind of distract me. If you give me the choice, I’m going “no streamers.”

But for these people, it was the primary way they expressed their worship of the Living God. They were moving and dancing and swaying to their soul’s fullest extent. The streamers were their spiritual touchstone. You couldn’t pay me to do it, but you couldn’t pay them to stop it.

Or maybe an example that hits a little closer to home. Do you know when the music we now call contemporary Christian music started to be featured in some churches? In the 1970’s. To put it another way, the first babies that were baptized in some of those early churches with contemporary Christian worship music are now pushing 50-years-old.

When those men and women think about the Christian music of their childhood, there isn’t an organ. There’s an electric guitar and a keyboard and a drum kit. There are people who hear Michael W Smith’s “Our God is an Awesome God” with the same childhood reverence that others ascribe to “Hear I Am Lord.”

That’s not the music that speaks to the people of this church, but that’s what speaks to people in other churches. I tell you these two examples to highlight that we do not all connect with the same rituals or traditions or music or symbols. So the pitfall, the temptation, is to see your own rituals and symbols and traditions as somehow intrinsically superior to someone else’s.

And of course the irony is that there’s someone on the other side of that divide thinking they’re superior to you! Just remember that when Jesus’ disciples were debating about who was the greatest, Jesus shut them down and said that the one who has child-like faith and the one who serves are the greatest. Not the smartest. Not the best singer. Not the best organ player. Not the best streamer dancer. Not the best-dressed or the most “real.”

If you have traditions and rituals and symbols that draw you closer to Jesus, fabulous! But not everyone is going to connect that way. As a church, we try to find some kind of sweet spot that gives as many of our congregation the opportunity to connect with Jesus on Sunday together, but our sweet spot is not intrinsically better than some other church’s sweet spot.

So two of the most common pitfalls of the traditionalist spiritual pathway are going through the motions or thinking your traditions are intrinsically superior or somehow more Godly than someone else’s traditions.

Spiritual Practices

So to recap, the traditionalist spiritual pathway walks toward and loves God through ritual, symbol, and traditions. At its best, the traditionalist spiritual pathway finds deep meaning in the familiar acts of our faith. At its worst, the traditionalist spiritual pathway goes through the motions or judges other people’s traditions as intrinsically inferior or somehow less Godly than their own.

So that’s the overview, but how can those who walk the traditionalist spiritual pathway intentionally deepen and strengthen their walk toward God? Again, we have several spiritual practices listed on the back of your bulletin. Each week we’re putting practices that go along with that week’s spiritual pathway. So you can take a look at that, but we’re going to focus on a couple of them.

The basic idea for all of the spiritual practices for traditionalists is to mine for meaning within the classics of our faith. Find things within our faith that you believe are worth repeating, and dive into them so you can find the absolute best personal connection and meaning from them.

Our classic rituals and symbols and traditions are like a giant mountain of potential. Your spiritual practice is to mine them for the spiritual gold that is within them. Find the meaning. Deepen your personal connection to the meaning of the tradition.

So here are a few tangible ideas.

If you connect deeply with our worship service, take the bulletin home. Look through it. Pray through it. Reflect on the parts of worship that were most meaningful to you. We’re posting video of the whole service now, so you can go back and re-watch any part you want. I recommend re-watching the sermon six or seven times…just to pick something at random.

Or, did you know that the bulletin is actually posted by the end of the day on Friday? You can meditate ahead of time on the worship service and come spiritually prepared.

Meditating or reviewing the worship service is a way to mine for meaning and walk toward God within the traditionalist spiritual pathway.

Another way to walk toward God with the traditionalist spiritual pathway is to write down those songs or classic prayers or Scripture verses that have been extremely meaningful to you over the course of your life. I encourage you to actually write or type it down instead of just keeping it in your head. The act of getting the words out of your head usually triggers thoughts and memories and ideas that would otherwise stay locked away.

So write down some meaningful songs, prayers, or Scripture verses. And then spend some time meditating and exploring the meaning behind them. If it’s a song, maybe search for the history of how that song was written. If it’s a classic prayer, maybe think about which words or phrases are particularly meaningful to you and why that is. If it’s some Bible verses, maybe go through the verses really, really slowly to mine for meaning. On the back of your bulletin we have a link to a method of doing this called lectio divina.

Spending extra time with meaningful songs, prayers or Bible verses is another way to mine for meaning and walk toward God within the traditionalist spiritual pathway.

Summary

Sisters and brothers, the traditionalist spiritual pathway loves and walks toward God through ritual, symbol, and traditions. At its best, the traditionalist spiritual pathway finds deep meaning in the familiar acts of our faith.

You can deepen your spiritual walk by reflecting on the worship service beyond the sermon. You can deepen your spiritual walk by writing down the songs, prayers, and Bible verses that have been meaningful to you and then spending extra time with them. And there are a few more ideas on the back of your bulletin.

Some of the traditions and rituals we know and love are being sung by the angels in the book of Revelation. I guess that means they must have some pretty deep meaning to be practiced in eternity. We can find that kind of deep meaning here on earth, too. Amen.

April 4 2021

April 4, 2021 (Easter) – “Enthusiasts: Loving God with

codysandahl Sermons

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First Reading = John 20:1-18

20Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10Then the disciples returned to their homes.

11But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 12and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). 17Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Introduction

We are starting a new series for the next nine weeks looking at different spiritual pathways. These are nine different paths that lead you to a connection with God. Some people are designed to walk toward God by the intellectual pathway. Others are designed to walk toward God by the compassionate service pathway. Others are designed to walk toward God by the nature pathway.

The specifics are different for each person, but I have yet to meet someone who didn’t connect with at least one of these nine pathways. So if you’re feeling like your spiritual soda has gone flat, we’re going to give you maybe some new paths to walk toward God or some new ideas on how to go deeper with the spiritual pathway you’ve always walked.

This series was inspired by the book Sacred Pathways by Gary Thomas. It’s a really, really good book, so I highly recommend picking it up if you’re a reader. I also went through all nine of these spiritual pathways with my Monday night men’s Bible study group, and I posted the entire discussion guide on our website on the Spiritual Journey tab of our website – fpcl.org. You can use it on your own or in a group if you want.

And we’re also putting some tangible steps you can take to practice each spiritual pathway on the back of the bulletin each week. I really want to put a whole lot of spiritual tools in your toolbox over the next nine weeks.

In fact, I’ll go this far. I believe the next nine weeks are the most important series I have ever given in terms of the potential to impact you for the rest of your life. If you find your top one or two spiritual pathways, and if you discover several ways to walk down that pathway toward God, and if you also spot some of the potential pitfalls that can trip you up along the way? If you get that out of the next nine weeks, I will have taught you how to fish spiritually instead of just giving you some spiritual fish each week.

And what better time to start the most important sermon series I think I’ve ever given than Easter? Today we’re going to talk about loving God with mystery and celebration, which is called the enthusiast pathway. This spiritual pathway is about connecting your experiences back to God. This isn’t about thoughts and knowledge and study and understanding – we’ll talk about the intellectual pathway another week. This is about experiences. Spiritual mysteries. Celebrating what Jesus has done and who Jesus is without worrying about understanding everything.

And that’s pretty much a summary of the very first Easter Sunday. They had no idea what was happening, and when they got the briefest glimpse of it they were awestruck! Easter is a mystery! Easter is a celebration! Easter is a great example of the enthusiast spiritual pathway.

Sermon Reading = Acts 10:34-43

34Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, 35but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 36You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. 37That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: 38how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; 40but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, 41not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. 43All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Mystery

My son, like many five-year-olds, has a lot of questions. A few months ago, my wife and I were commenting on the beauty of the sunset over the mountains that evening. The reds and pinks and oranges and purples were like a painting stretched across the sky. And so my son asked me, “What makes the sky do that? And why is it blue during the day?”

I love questions, and I especially love science questions! Cue the Dad-splainer! So I started to explain Rayleigh Scattering and how the angle of the sun’s rays at different times of day determines how much atmosphere it passes through, and that determines how much light gets scattered, and that affects the color, and that then determines… Yeah, his eyes started glazing over just like yours!

Being such an experienced public speaker, I sensed that I was losing my audience and changed tactics. I told him, “But do you know the best thing about all of that?” “What, Dad?” “It looks cool!” “Yeah!”

Sometimes you just gotta appreciate and celebrate something that looks beautiful! That’s the enthusiast pathway for this week. Stop and smell the roses. Stop and appreciate the beauty. Appreciate that something is amazing even if you can’t explain it. Get lost in the moment, don’t get lost in the weeds.

It’s kind of hard to talk about mysteries in the information age. We can look up explanations for so many things within seconds. It seems like we can explain and quantify so many things! But we’re also surrounded by deep mysteries that we take for granted every day.

For example, let’s suppose I told you I was going to take a nap later today. Sounds pretty normal, right? But what if I told you that I’m going to go comatose for a few hours, hallucinate vividly, and then probably suffer amnesia about the whole experience? That’s what a nap really is! We have no idea what’s going on with all of that, but we take that mystery for granted.

And on Easter we are surrounded by a cornucopia of mysteries that we take for granted. The backdrop to Easter is Jesus, the Son of God, allowing himself to die on the cross on our behalf. But hold on. Think about that. That’s just as crazy as calling a two hour comatose hallucination with amnesia a nap! God died?!? God died for me?!? God died on purpose?!? To forgive my sins?!? What?!?

The next mystery is that on Easter we can sing at the top of our lungs, “Jesus Christ is Risen Today!” But hold on a second. How did he rise again from death? Why didn’t he just skip dying, step down from the cross, and show his power? What?!? Resurrection is a word we put around an unfathomable mystery.

But the enthusiast spiritual pathway leans into that mystery and celebrates it. Yeah it’s an unfathomable mystery. AND it’s cool! Yeah I can’t explain it. AND isn’t that fabulous!?! This spiritual pathway acknowledges that we worship a God who cannot fit inside our limited minds and limited perspectives and limited knowledge and limited experiences. And how great that is! God is bigger than I can imagine! God is stronger than I can imagine! God is more loving than I can imagine! God has more imagination than I can imagine! Hallelujah for that!

Dreams

So let me share some spiritual practices that allow you to take those mysteries and use them to walk toward God. One of the spiritual practices is to make use of those times when you are comatose and hallucinating with a chance at suffering amnesia – dreams!

A couple of weeks ago, a woman I know was debating whether she should warn her good friend. Her husband was planning a surprise party for her, which is a nice gesture. But the way her husband was planning the party was going to annoy her greatly. So the woman I know was wondering if she should secretly spill the beans and help her friend prepare herself to make the best of the situation.

But no one wants to be the one who blows the surprise, right? Would that be being a good friend? Or would that be being a party pooper? Well, one night the woman I know had a dream that featured her friend. And in the dream, her friend told her, “You know me the best.”

So when she woke up she took that as a sign that she should go with her instinct to tell her good friend about the upcoming surprise party that would annoy her to no end. And that allowed her good friend to get her negative emotions out of the way ahead of time so she could make the best of it and try to appreciate the intent of her husband’s surprise party rather than the implementation that annoyed her.

By paying attention to the dream, the woman I know was able to do something loving for her friend. That’s a mystery. But you don’t have to explain it to be able to appreciate and celebrate it.

You can actually use your dreams as a spiritual practice. God speaks through dreams all throughout the Bible. There are dozens and dozens of examples. So this is a very real spiritual practice.

If you want to use your dreams as a spiritual practice, here’s a pretty simple method. Only two steps. First step – log what you can remember about your dreams each day for a week or so. The sooner you write it down in the morning, the more you’ll remember. Step two – pray for the Jesus to speak to you and guide you through your dreams every day that you’re logging your dreams. Look at your log and pray over it. Pretty simple!

Not every dream is guidance from Jesus. That’s one of the pitfalls of this spiritual pathway. That’s where a community of faith like a small group or some trusted Christian friends can help you confirm or question if you’re hearing from Jesus correctly.

But the process is pretty simple – log your dreams and pray to receive guidance through them. No guarantees on the particular week you’re trying it, but God definitely uses dreams to speak to people sometimes! Think about how good this news is. You don’t have to go to a Bible study for this. You don’t have to worry about your busy schedule for this. You don’t have to ask for permission for this. You’re going to sleep. You’re going to dream. If you remember at least some of your dream, you can write it down and pray for it. And sometimes, our mysterious God will meet you that way. I can’t explain that like I can explain Rayleigh scattering and the color of the sky, but at the end of the day? Having a God who loves us and is close enough to appear in our dreams is pretty cool! Maybe you’ll be able to say, like Mary Magdalene on Easter morning, “I have seen the Lord!”

Forms of Prayer

So that’s dreams. But there are other ways to walk toward God in this spiritual pathway.

Have you ever been browsing a website and you get one of those “We value your feedback” surveys? I almost always just say “No.” But about a year ago, Google was rolling out a major change to how you manage groups within Gmail. And I absolutely hated it! The new interface required about four more steps to add or remove multiple people from the group. I hate extra steps and extra clicks! So when they asked for my feedback, I gave it to them!

And guess what happened? They completely ignored my feedback, just as I expected them to do! Have you ever seen that old Farside comic where the suggestion box actually has a pipe to the trash can? That’s precisely what I expected, but I decided to give it a try anyway.

I believe we often pray as if we expect God to take our suggestion and concerns about as seriously as Google took my Gmail feedback. But have you ever prayed with an expectation that God would do something? Have you ever prayed with the expectation that God would be present? That’s a different form of prayer.

Someone called me out on this at my previous church many years ago. We were organizing a ministry where adults were paired with other adult mentors. And we had about 20 matches on paper when one of the guys on my staff suggested we pray for more matches. I agreed, but he stopped me. Because, I’ve shared this before, prayer is not high on my spiritual gifts. Sometimes I go through the motions. So he stopped me and asked, “do you expect God to actually answer this prayer?”

It kind of stopped me in my tracks. I paused for a while and said, “You know, you’re right. Let’s pray over this like we expect Jesus himself to write down a few names for us.”

Much, much longer than I ever would have kept praying normally, we had six more pairings. And a year later, guess which six mentor pairings had the most life impact? Guess which pairings kept going after the end of the program? Yeah. Jesus knew what he was doing. Turns out Jesus knows people better than I do. Who’da thunk it?

Praying with the expectation that Jesus will show up in some way is a spiritual practice. I’ve had other times where I could tangibly feel the presence of Jesus during an expectant prayer, but I couldn’t tell you exactly how the prayers were answered. Like the stone rolled away from the tomb on Easter morning, the presence of Jesus is its own fulfillment of prayer even if you can’t articulate what he did.

Our prayers don’t go into the heavenly trash bin. Our prayers land on the desk of the Son of God. And he knows my name as well as he knows Mary’s name. I can’t explain that, but it’s pretty cool!

Spiritual Risk

There are other spiritual practices for loving God through mystery and celebration on the back of your bulletin or on our website, but I want to highlight just one more today.

One of the women in our church named Sue took a trip to rural Ethiopia. She had seen poverty around the world, but not like what she saw on that trip. It left her shaken to think that God would let her live such a privileged life while allowing these people who were singing God’s praises to live with so little.

But she couldn’t shake the image of the children she had met. So she went back the following year, with a couple of young women in tow who wanted to experience what she had told them in stories and perhaps find a way to help.

Her church asked her to share some more of her stories, and soon people were giving her money she hadn’t asked for to go and make a difference in these places and with these people who had been planted on her heart.

While she was there, an Ethiopian friend asked her to buy a blanket for a widow in the local church. As she handed the woman the blanket, the woman praised God that he had finally sent her help!

Sue shared that her first thought was that God didn’t do this! She took a miserable airplane flight, rode in a car that bumped and swerved for 12 hours. But then…but then…a calm, peaceful presence flooded her. And she thought of all the people who made this possible. She was just a conduit for the love and presence and care of God!

I’ll let her finish the story in her own words. “I continued taking trips to Ethiopia for the next twenty years and am humbled by all the blessings that have transpired. I’ve stumbled on desperate students, grateful parents, and abandoned children, who I’ve been able to help through the charity I established. All of the students I took with me have found direction and meaning in their lives and I found a passion like none I’d had before. My Ethiopian kids are all now adults and are working. The kindergarten I helped establish with seven students is now a school for more than 200. The blessing have never stopped.”

You never could have convinced her on that first trip to start a school for 200 kids. You never could have convinced her on that first trip to start a charity. That would have been too big for her!

But she wasn’t the one building it. Jesus was building it through her and through the other people around her. It took a willingness to take the next spiritual risk. It took a willingness to take another spiritual risk and keep going back. It took a willingness to take the spiritual risk of accepting people’s donations and trying to do something with them in Ethiopia.

Taking the next spiritual risk in something that is too big for you to achieve without Jesus doing the heavy lifting? That’s a spiritual practice.

And that’s when we see resurrection power! Resurrection power, Easter power, isn’t conjuring a miracle. Usually, resurrection power, Easter power, is watching one act of faithfulness, and then another act of faithfulness, and then another act of faithfulness, and then you look back and realize miracles are happening all around you like Sue’s experience in Ethiopia.

You and I are following Jesus because some women saw the risen Christ and they told some Jewish men who followed Jesus when he was alive. Those men told others. And people kept telling others because they experienced life so differently and so much more meaningfully when they followed Jesus. Rinse and repeat for almost 2000 years and here we are in Littleton, Colorado on Easter. That’s too big for anyone to achieve on their own. But for God? That’s just another day at the office. That’s resurrection power, that’s Easter power. That’s one spiritual risk after another after another after another for 2000 years to reach us today.

I can’t explain how that stuff happens. But I see it all the time, and it’s pretty cool.

Summary

Sisters and brothers, I can’t explain Easter to you. I can’t explain a God who dies for us to forgive us and then rises again three days later. I have no scientific terms to explain that. But I also don’t need to.

Because God works through mysteries and dreams and expectant prayers and taking one spiritual risk after another until all of a sudden miracles are happening all around you. That’s resurrection power. That’s Easter power. I can’t explain it. But it’s pretty cool. And I’ll gladly give a Hallelujah for it.

So Happy Easter. He Is Risen! He Is Risen Indeed! Hallelujah!