Sermon of the Week
God’s Good Treasure: The Gift Within You.

A sermon preached at The Kirk of Kansas City, Missouri, on October 6, 2019.
The first of a four part sermon series on selections from Second Timothy.

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Keywords: 2 Timothy, Handing Down Faith, A Gift Within You, Sincere Faith, Perfection, Shame.

Scripture readings (which you may wish to read prior):
John 6:25-38
and 2 Timothy 1:1-14

New Testament Scholar and former Anglican Bishop NT Wright tells this
touching story[i] about his childhood as he ponders this
text before us from Second Timothy:

There was snow outside,
and the living room was cold when I came downstairs.

I don’t know why I’d woken up early,
but I now shivered as I huddled on the sofa
and waited for one of my parents to follow me downstairs.
(I can’t have been more than about seven or eight I suppose).

Before long my father appeared, and began to work the fireplace.
He twisted some newspaper,
laid some fresh sticks,
placed coal around the edge, and then,
kneeling down,
blew very gently at the base of the fire.

He didn’t need to use a match.

He’d seen that the coal
in the very bottom of the fireplace was still glowing,
still just alight.

As he blew, I watched in amazement at what seemed like magic.
The coal glowed brighter and brighter,
and then suddenly the newspaper burst into flame.
Within a minute the sticks were alight,
the fire was going
and the room began to warm up.

A small childhood memory, Wright explains,
of the days before central heating
But I am reminded of it when I hear Paul urging his young friend
to rekindle God’s gift,
to bring it back into a blazing fire.

Something is glowing there, deep down inside Timothy,
and he must blow gently on it to bring it back into flame.

///
Now, I don’t think that I was drawn to this passage
merely because the drop in temperatures this weekend
had me scrambling for extra blankets in the middle of the night.

Yesterday morning, I actually had to dig out my fall jackets
so that I could stay warm
at our daughters’ cross-country meet.

I do not think we are quite ready for fall at the Herring household.

I think NT Wright’s story rings true, though,
because I like the idea of God stoking our fire.

I’m looking forward to God rekindling us
rekindling me in my day to day life as someone trying to
follow God on the way of Jesus,
rekindle our churches and Christianity in general,
rekindle all of humanity, if I’m serious about it,
and the way our squabbles lead not just
to government angst, which is bad enough,
but to terrible wars,
and parents forced to choose
between medicine and food for their kids,
people scampering to find a warm place to sleep at night,
news reports about impeachment and Iran,
and a mass shooting overnight
in a Kansas City, Kansas, bar.

I’m ready for God to do some rekindling.

And, if I’ve read the tea leaves right,
I get the sense from many here that the Kirk is yearning
for the breath of God to blow over the coals
of the hearth that we call our church home,
and to set us ablaze once again.

We’re going to be looking at this letter that we call Second Timothy
for some inspiration over the next few weeks.

The letter talks about God’s Good Treasure:
to be clear, not some big box
filled with gold or diamond or money.
Not winning the lottery.
Not gaining all the riches of the world. Not that kind of treasure.

There’s something else,
something of great value and importance,
something worth protecting and passing on,
or maybe carefully giving away,
like a pearl of great price
or your last two copper coins.
It is the knowledge and love of God.

///
The author of Second Timothy sees something
beautiful and loving IN this young Timothy
and is writing to offer words of encouragement
words of excitement
words of expectation.

The author calls that: the gift of God within you.
What is that gift? [Read more…]

Sermon of the Week
No Insignificant Question: The Whole Armor of God; Let All You Do be Done in Love.

A sermon preached at The Kirk of Kansas City, Missouri, on September 29, 2019.
The last of a nine part sermon series on questions and topics submitted by listeners for consideration

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Keywords: The Whole Armor of God, Ephesians, Do Everything in Love, Adrenaline, Aggressive Society, Joyful Faith.

Scripture readings (which you may wish to read prior):
1 Corinthians 16:5-14
and Ephesians 6:10-20

Adrenaline, or epinephrine, is a hormone that kicks in
during times of excitement or stress or danger.[i]

Biologically, it triggers the so-called “fight or flight response,”
meaning that there’s some danger, some issue, some problem
and you either need to dive right in RIGHT NOW,
or you need to run and find a safe place, THIS VERY SECOND.

The hormone causes air passages to dilate
so that extra oxygen is sent to muscles,
and also it prompts blood vessels to contract
prioritizing and re-directing blood toward major muscle groups
including the heart and lungs.

Your pain sensation goes down a bit,
which is why you can continue running from
or fighting danger even when injured.
There’s a notable increase in strength and performance,
as well as heightened awareness, during stressful times.
The effects of adrenaline can last about an hour.

We were talking about that this week
at the Prairie Village Citizen’s Police Academy.
Our town’s police department
offers the academy as an opportunity
to learn more about the work of a police department.

We’ll get the chance to test out the radar equipment in traffic vehicles,
hear from the county attorney about the criminal code and police activity,
talk about communications, ethical vehicle stops,
even chat with the animal control team.
This week we talked a bit about the patrol officer,
what’s in their car,
what they go through on a shift.

The highlight of the evening was when they explained how stop sticks work
which are these super light tubes that the officers keep in the back of their car
and, if there’s some car that is going fast that they need to stop,
they can toss the tubes across a street and hope the car drives over them
at which point the tires puncture and gradually lose air pressure
and the car comes to a stop.

We got to sit in the patrol car, turn on the lights, run to the back
and try to get the sticks out and safely on the road
in the allotted 20 seconds. Not very easy.

I was amazed with what the adrenaline was like,
even in a comical little simulation like that
where 10 civilians try to do this task
that would be much more anxiety provoking in a real-world moment
by a person regularly trained to do it,
and multiply that by all the other tasks that we ask our officers to do
patrol our streets
respond to mental illness and domestic disturbance calls
build relationships with community.
It’s a lot.

One of the things that they say makes them feel equipped and prepared for that work
is the fact that the department supplies all their equipment.
As they put it, all we have to have is underwear and a t-shirt.

Not every department, apparently, does that.

They get their uniform, shoes, even a form-fitted ballistic vest
which they have to wear under their shirt.

Having a department care about their safety,
provide them the tools they need to do their work,
and keep them clean, maintained, and functional,
makes a big difference.

It is a little thing in the grand scheme of things,
but it alleviates a bit of the built in stress of their work
helps them be a bit calmer
which helps them do their job, make good choices,
keep those moments of adrenaline management at bay.

///
We’ve reached the end of this sermon series
exploring topics and themes and questions posed by you
by members and friends of The Kirk.

We’ve covered a lot of terrain. [Read more…]