Sermon of the Week
On the Way to Christmas: Keep Alert

A Sermon preached at The Kirk of Kansas City, Missouri, on December 2, 2018.
First in an Advent Sermon series. #pcusa

Keywords: Advent, Mini-Apocalypse, Charlie Brown Christmas, Salvador Dali, Clyde Butcher, The Avengers, Waiting.

Scripture readings (which you may wish to read prior):
Psalm 25:1-10
and Luke 21:25-36

Last night we had a great little concert here at The Kirk.

The Don Accurso Orchestra set up here on the chancel
and filled the sanctuary with the classics,
some Duke Ellington, some traditional Christmas music.

It was lovely, particularly since it’s the first Sunday in Advent,
and our wonderful friends on the Worship Team
helped hang the greens in our Sanctuary yesterday morning.

The dessert after wasn’t all that bad either.

I was talking with one of Don’s family members who was here.
Don passed away just a few weeks ago
and this concert had been on his calendar for months.
We know that when Don put a concert on his calendar
they play the concert.
Sometimes contracts follow us even beyond our passing.

I was talking with her about just how fitting it all was,
the music, and the way that the sanctuary looked,
all bedecked with garlands of evergreen and red ribbon
and all the things we do to mark this time of year.

It is such a wonderful time of year, for the most part
even when there are blue moments, for many of us
that make even the most fitting times bittersweet.

And so I’ve been thinking ever since about all the things I love about this season.

Not Christmas.
We’re not there yet.

Three more Sundays to go until Christmas,
so you still have time to get all your gifts, do all the wrapping
go to all the parties, get your Christmas jammies
and make plans to ponder your New Year’s resolutions.

Lots of time.

But this moment before Christmas, this season of watching and waiting,
this is the season of Advent.

She was asking me if this is my favorite time of year to be a pastor
and that’s a tricky thing to answer,
because there are lots of little things that go on all year
and its hard to pick out a favorite among all of them.

But I told her I do love this time of year.
I love the lights, twinkling in the still darkness,
particularly just a few of them,
like a candle in the window or a luminary on the front sidewalk.
Those are beautiful.

I’m not sure my mind quite can get around
these new massive light displays
which people apparently have to upgrade their electrical box for
so that it can handle all of it.
They’re coordinated with music, using a computer.

Don’t get me wrong, they’re great.
Every year we join a neighbor family and go around town looking at the lights.
We grab some ice cream first and map out a trip.
There are websites where you can find “the best lights”.
For example, I recommend that you find Candy Cane Lane.

Some of them even broadcast the music they’re flashing to
on a local radio transmitter
and you can pull up close and tune your radio just right
and listen and watch and marvel at everything
flashing blue and white and red and green
in complete coordination to Mannheim Steamroller or the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

 

But for me it’s the simple display, a few lights here and there
braving the dark nights of December
that give me pause,
that take my breath away this time of year.

And I love the classic movies on TV:
sure, It’s a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34^th Street
but also Elf and A Christmas Story and a Charlie Brown Christmas.

Actually, the music last night reminded me a lot of a Charlie Brown Christmas,
and I could close my eyes and see Charlie and Lucy and the gang
walking around looking for just the right tree.

There are a lot of things I love about this time of year.

You probably have your own things, too:
Hot chocolate with marshmallows.
Putting ornaments on the tree.
Baking Christmas cookies or decorating gingerbread houses.

We all seek out our hallmark card moments
even as we know our lives are more complex and messy than that.

But what I don’t like very much is the waiting. [Read more…]

Sermon of the Week
A Kirk with Purpose: Peace and Justice

A Meditation preached at The Kirk of Kansas City, Missouri, on November 25, 2018.
The third of a three-part Stewardship Sermon Series. #pcusa

Keywords: Winter Storm Bruce, Christ the King, God’s Shalom, Peace and Justice, Purpose Statement, a Kirk with Purpose.

Scripture readings (which you may wish to read prior):
Romans 8:18, 26-28
and Ephesians 1:15-23 (also included in the text below)

Preparing for worship today,
it felt like there were more unknowns than most times we get together.

The Sunday after Thanksgiving is always a question mark,
particularly if it’s not advent yet.

Advent is the start of the Christian Calendar.
It’s like New Year’s Day, with excitement and wonder at starting afresh.
The greens go up.
We might help put crimsons on the tree.

The theme of the season helps orient us every year
to anticipation, to waiting, to hope
as we begin our walk towards the manger.

I love the start of Advent, and
sometimes that does happen the Sunday after Thanksgiving

But not this year.

And so preachers all over wonder if the tryptophan in the holiday turkey and leftovers
might impact Sunday attendance.

Ok, fair enough.

But add to that the blizzard warning for winter storm Bruce,
(did you know that they named winter storms these days?),
and any storm with a name is bound to give people pause.

And rightly so,
since our rule is always “be safe.”

But I’m here, and you’re here
and so God is here, in the midst of us
on this last day of the Christian year:
The Reign of Christ the King Sunday.

So this might be a good time for me to briefly tell a story
that I can’t remember if I’ve told you before
so forgive me if I have, but I think it’s appropriate, and apropos:

The story is about a guest preacher at a small church in the countryside
and it’s a holiday, like Memorial Day weekend
and so many of the regulars aren’t there.

They’re visiting the big city to see family and take in a Barbeque.
So this preacher is there for 30 people instead of the typical 60 or so.

But the preacher, who knew all of this,
didn’t want to shortchange the good folk
who’d make the effort to get up, put on their Sunday shoes and hats
and make their way to the church, in some instances
fifteen or twenty minutes from their family farmsteads, you know.

So he put a little EXTRA into that sermon.

The illustration was particularly funny and winsome.
The three points were particularly on point.
He added a fourth, just to be sure.
It was linear and understandable and comprehensive.

Who knew a sermon could be like that, right?

And so he got there and he helped the congregation
proceed through its typical order of worship:
Call to Worship;
Prayer of Confession;
Hymn, Scripture, and time to preach.

And preach he did.
A bit longer than normal for him, maybe 25 minutes.

The service ended and he gave the blessing and went to the front door
to greet the congregation as they left.
They said all the typical kind things to him.
Midwestern nice.

Towards the end, he shook the hand of a farmer
who thanked him for being there and leading them in worship
and then the farmer said to him,
You know, pastor,
just one thing, though.

When I’m only feeding a couple of the cows
I don’t make them eat ALL the food in the trough.

///
Ok, fair enough. I’ve been warned.
Consider this more of a meditation then,
to try to beat the looming snowstorm.

But we do have a few things to dig into this morning.
We’re finishing our Stewardship season today
celebrating another year of ministry at The Kirk,
and looking ahead to our future.

For a church where we put God at the center of what we do, because of Jesus,
Christ the King Sunday is a great day for us to dedicate
our annual stewardship pledges.

If we surround ourselves with those holy people in our lives,
everyday saints,
that help us experience God,
and if we are inspired by the opportunity
to take part in this wonderful church
and its ministry of hope and love and welcome,
a church that is community minded, loving and serving,
a church that is warm hearted, even in the middle of a winter storm,
then we are willing to put our gifts of time and money and energy there as well.

Today’s second scripture reading
comes to us from Ephesians,
and is a prayer of thanksgiving for the faithfulness of God’s people,
people who are inspired by just THAT sort of community.

I invite you to open your hearts and your minds
to this reading of God’s word:

15 I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus
and your love towards all the saints,
and for this reason 
¹⁶I do not cease to give thanks for you
as I remember you in my prayers. 

¹⁷I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of glory,
may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation
as you come to know him, 
¹⁸so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened,
you may know what is the hope
to which he has called you,
what are the riches
of his glorious inheritance among the saints, 
¹⁹and what is the immeasurable greatness
of his power for us who believe,
according to the working of his great power. 

²⁰God put this power to work in Christ
when he raised him from the dead
and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 
²¹far above all rule and authority and power and dominion,
and above every name that is named,
not only in this age but also in the age to come. 

²²And he has put all things under his feet
and has made him the head over all things for the church,
²³which is his body,
the fullness of him who fills all in all. [Eph 1:15-23]

May God bless to us
our reading
and our understanding
and our applying of these words
to how we live our lives.
Amen.

///
Maybe the best thing to say,
on a day like today,
is to just let the words of the scripture speak to us
as we try to find ourselves in the arc of the biblical story,
that story of God’s love for God’s people, for creation, for the world.

The first passage that we read talks about how God works things together for good
for those who love God,
those who are called according to God’s purpose.

So our focus has been on God’s purpose for us, a Kirk with Purpose.

The thought is that, if we describe what the Kirk’s purpose is
you will find your own place,
your own purpose,
in what God is doing among us.

To that end, we’ve been talking about our new Kirk purpose statement.

This summer, the session replaced our vision and mission statement
with what we called a purpose statement.

What is particularly great about it is how it fits us as a community
where we’ve been, where we are
even as it gives us aspirations for the future, where we might be going.

We welcome all to experience the love of God as seen in Jesus Christ,
through worship, authentic relationships, and meaningful work,
as we promote peace and justice in the world.

I’ve been asking some of you about your own experiences here at The Kirk
and how this purpose statement fits with your understanding of what we’re all about.

How have you experienced the Love of God because of The Kirk?
How has the practice of regular worship deepened your faith?
How have the people you have met here inspired you to care for others?
How have the activities we’ve undertaken together
given you joy, opened you to compassion, helped you stand up for what is right?

I’ve described this as the why, the how, and the what of our life together:
The why: we are here to welcome people to experience God’s love in Christ.
The how: worship, relate, and work meaningfully.
And the what: promote peace and justice.

That’s our purpose. It’s the reason we are here.

///
We call today Christ the King Sunday,
but there’s always a little note of irony in that statement. [Read more…]