13 If I speak in the tongues n of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, u but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. [1]
The Call of Jeremiah
4 The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew h you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
6 “Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”
7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.
9 Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.” [2]
Jesus Rejected at Nazareth
14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” q
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked. [3]
Cultivating the seeds of faith, hope, and the greatest of these: Love
There is the story of an elderly couple who shared one meal every day in a restaurant. The waiter would bring an extra plate, and they would divide the meal evenly. Every day, it was like clockwork; they would come in at noon. Over time, the waiter noticed that the wife would wait for the husband to eat his half of the meal before eating hers. The waiter, curious, asked why that was. The wife replied, "We share everything, including the teeth."
I don’t know if Mary and I will ever get to that point, but I hope and pray it never comes to that.
Our world, at times, appears to be in a state of moral decay. There is calamity all around us, and yet, somehow, we still choose to participate in the world God created. We hold on to the belief that there is good in this world hidden by the evil of humanity. We look to the light or the resurrection and believe God has already triumphed over death. That gives us hope for the future, a future built on the death and resurrection of God's only Son. The future is not written or sustained not by humanity's good intentions but by God's Grace.
As you know, I am a huge fan of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. As the Hobbit unfolds, Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit of the Shire who lives in a hobbit hole in the ground, loves his home, books, chair, food, and friends. Gandolf, the grey wizard, invites Bilbo on a quest to help the dwarves reclaim their homeland. At first, he is resistant but decides to join the company for an adventure that will change his life forever. Throughout this story, Bilbo finds his courage and faith in something larger than himself. Galadriel, the Elf queen, asks Gandolf the grey wizard, "Why the halfling?" His response is filled with the most graceful words:
John Wesley had this notion of prevenient Grace. That’s a churchy word. It means Grace that goes before and pulls us close to God even before we know we need it. It is Grace That begins before our conception and is nurtured throughout our time in our mother's womb, which is filled with water. Water feeds us and helps us develop into the children, adolescents, and adults we will become.
Water in scripture has a lot of meaning. The waters of the Red Sea were cut off, allowing the Israelites safe passage from Pharoah's army. Water flowed from the rock as Moses struck it. Water was turned from bitter to sweet when Moses put wood into it. The Israelites had to cross the river Jordan, and Jesus was baptized in that same water. We use water in the church today as a sign and symbol of an inward grace that is at work in the life of the church.
The statement that we come into this world with nothing is inaccurate. We come into this world with God's Grace, and our first response is to scream and cry that God can only understand our response to God's Grace for the minutes, days, weeks, and Years to come. A lifetime of God's Grace pulls us closer to the reality that we are not alone.
The Dwarves and Gandolf are never alone; they have Bilbo Baggins, who is constantly the wisest and most courageous of them all at every turn. With his logic and courage, he saves them time and time again. When they finally come to the Dwarf Mountain, looking for the keyhole to the secret door, Bilbo discovers it, even though all the Dwarves have given up. This simple Hobbit, with a love for everyday things, including acts of kindness, gives hope and faith that their mission can be accomplished.
Humans spend much time living in the past instead of embracing the future. Let me put it another way: Farmers shovel horse dung; they don't play in it. We often hold ourselves accountable for the sins of the past when they are already paid for by God's Grace. Please don't miss the point. There are times when looking at the past to understand the future is necessary, but continually hanging ourselves on the cross is not what God wants of us.
Jeremiah was thirteen years old when God called him into service. He is known as the ‘weeping prophet’ because he brings messages of gloom and destruction to Israel. It's not exactly the job anyone is applying for these days, but I imagine the position is out there on Indeed.com. Perhaps an IRS worker doing audits for the rich and famous?
Jeremiah uses the excuse when God calls him, “Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”
Do we ever give God excuses as people who claim to have faith? Bilbo Baggins gives plenty of excuses for why he can't help the dwarves. He fights it every step of the way, but something gets a hold of him, and this quest changes his life. Acts of kindness change our lives. When we do something for someone in Grace, our lives change.
As followers of Jesus, we must allow the words of God to come out of our hearts and mouths. Words like "love your enemies." "Bless those who curse you." "Turn the other cheek." "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." and "Forgive one another as I have forgiven you," God asks us to do these acts of kindness one to another. Why is it so hard? The only way to keep evil at bay, as Gandolf says, “is in the everyday things, the acts of kindness...and that gives me hope.”
God loved Israel enough to send a thirteen-year-old boy to prophesy the impending destruction. It was enough time for Israel to avoid this destruction by changing their course and turning to God. They wouldn't listen to Jeremiah, and at one point, he is thrown into a cistern under the street, but he keeps on with God's prophesies. Nothing stops him; some listen, but it's not enough to change the nation's course.
We get messages from God all the time. God is still speaking to us as a congregation, community, nation, and world. The question is: Are we listening? Perhaps we are, but are we hearing what God wants, or are our ears plugged with the trappings of this world that lead to our impending doom?
I have come to believe that one of Satan's favorite sins is vanity or the love of self. Has anyone taken a selfie or posted it on social media in the past 24 hours?
As a nation, we have fallen in love with ourselves. It's all about our own neurosis, which we have made ourselves in our image. Forgetting to remember that we, as humans, were formed in God's image. What we see in the mirror is not what God sees. God sees the whole of who we are: mind, body, Spirit, the good, the bad, and the ugly, and as Bishop Violet Fisher reminded us at one of the first Annual Conferences I ever attended, “You are the beloved of God...never forget that!”
In Luke's gospel, Jesus returns to his hometown for the first time since beginning ministry. Luke places this event right after Jesus' temptation in the wilderness. When he is in the synagogue, he reads the scroll of Isaiah for that day and announces that the prophesy of Isaiah has been fulfilled in their presence. He is declaring that he is the Son of God.
They all ask, "Is this Joseph, the carpenter's son?"
Then, the towns turn on Jesus and try to push him off a cliff. The gospels tell us that Jesus disappears through the crowd and never returns home.
It takes a lot of courage to come home to our families, congregations, and to God. However, I am learning that the only way to come home is to be honest with yourself, your family, and God.
Honesty leads to faith, faith leads to hope, and hope leads to love. Love that cannot be broken because God never gives up on us as God’s beloved.
We call this Grace.
We always hear the words of 1 Corinthians 13 of the Apostle Paul at weddings. What if these words became a daily act of Grace and faith? What if we lived into the reality of hope that the world needs us to be God’s love in this world? What would happen if we could believe that God could and would change the world through us, because of us, or despite us?
God used Jerimiah, a thirteen-year-old boy, the Apostle Paul, and most importantly, Jesus. That is why we are here today; let us carry the mantle of this season of faith’s perfection that we find ourselves in and change our congregation, community, and the world. God is still speaking—and calling us like Bilbo Baggins. Will you join the adventure that is before us? Let's make sure we listen to God even in the comfort of our lives for the adventure we have been called.
[1] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), 1 Co 13.
[2] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Je 1:4–10.
[3] The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Lk 4:14–22.
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