Sunday, December, 11, 2011

Rev. Denise Mason Bullitt

Community of Reconciliation Church

December 11, 2011

“Joy through Simplicity – Pro Dreamers”

3^rd Sunday of Advent & Stewardship Season

Isaiah 61:1-4 ▪ Psalm 126 ▪ John 1:6-8, 19-28

There is a connection between gratitude, generosity and simplicity. The more that we comprehend the enormity of the blessings God has provided… is providing… and, will provide… the more we are grateful. The more we are grateful, the more blessed we feel. The more blessed we feel the more generous we want to become. The more generous we want to be the more we must simplify our lives.

The first step in simplifying our lives is to be clear about our life’s purpose. What is that you were born to do? What difference is your life supposed to make? Contrary to popular understanding, we have not been given life simply to make and spend as much money as we possibly can. We were born for more than this.

Our passage from Isaiah this morning proclaims, “The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; [God] has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor… to comfort all who mourn… to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.”

Beloved, in these words rest the call of the Body of Christ. These are the precise words, according to Luke in chapter 4, that Jesus would use to launch his ministry here on earth and; these are the precise words that call us into being as well. Embedded in these statements exists our reason for being. Our jobs, then, are to discover the way in which God wants to use each of us to fulfill Christ’s mission in this world.

How often have we wondered, “If God is all-loving and all-powerful, then why doesn’t God do something about evil?” Mike Slaughter answers the question this way, “[We] are the ‘something’ that God is sending to combat evil in the world. Evil will try to convince [us] that [we] can’t change anything or really make a difference in this world. But, just as Jesus was sent by God to intervene [with the good news], [we’ve] been sent by Jesus, along with his power and resources,”[1] to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor!

So how do we get there? How do we get from living in this world and falling for all the hype to doing things the God-way? We’ve got to gain control of our lives and return it over to God. Our lives can’t be controlled by money or our jobs, or what others do or don’t do. We’ve got to be concerned about one another and Christ’s church the way God is concerned for us. We’ve got to discover our purpose and live it. We’ve got to live below our means because doing so opens up possibilities for our future that only God can imagine.

To live below our means changes everything. It reorients us and helps us make room to focus on things that are truly important. Our reality looks something like this:

· The more we make, the more we waste.

· The more stuff we have, the more stress we likely have in our lives.

· More stuff is not necessarily better and probably makes us less happy.

· Scarcity – the notion that there is not enough is a lie!

· We do have God within us and therefore we have the power to change to way we live and the world we live in. But, only if we regain control of our lives by living below our means and empowering God’s possibilities.

Inside your bulletin is a purple card that names some possibilities for how to simplify our lives.

1. Live below your means.

2. Set a goal to reduce your consumption, a little each year. Consider recycling, using cloth bags instead of paper or plastic, use only paper goods that you need rather than handfuls. We represent only 5% of the world’s population, yet we produce 40% of the world’s garbage – an average of 1,609 pounds per person per year. This is not only wasteful; it is unsustainable.[2]

3. Before purchasing, ask, “Do I really need this? Why do I want this?”

4. Use something up completely before buying something new.

5. Re-examine resources used for entertainment and everyday indulgences.

6. Are there major changes that God is calling me to make that would simplify my life? Downsizing car payments, unused club membership or a mortgage that might reduce stress & anxiety.

7. Strengthen self-control

Finally, it’s Christmas and Christmas affords us a wonderful way to begin practicing new possibilities of living more simply. On the flipside of your bulletin insert there are tips for Christmas Giving Christ-Style.

1. Set aside as much for Christ’s church or related ministries as a gift, as we do for ourselves and our loved ones. After all, it is Jesus’ birthday! (This could mean cutting ‘our’ budget in half!)

2. Do not incur ANY additional debt to celebrate the holiday.

3. Do not spend funds needed for household costs or ongoing life needs in order to have a Merry Christmas.

4. Consider giving gifts that display your faith and say something about the God you love. Remember, Christmas is God’s love poured out for us!

John the Baptist, our Gospel lesson reminds us, is one we talk about every year. Why? Because he knew his job and did his job – never letting outside influences change his purpose or reason for living.

Mike Munchak, head coach of the Tennessee Titans has a motto that he instills in his players, “Be a Pro! Know your job! Do your job!” Brothers and sisters, this is the step we must take in claiming our rightful place in kin-dom building. We’ve got to, “Be a Pro! Know our jobs and do them!

Our psalm (126:1-3) for today opens with these words… “When the Lord restores the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouths were filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then it was said among the nations, The Lord has done great things for them.” The Lord has done great things for us… let us rejoice!

Let us become a people of God who dream… let us become like pros… discover our job and do it thus, hastening the realm of God!

The Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let’s make it matter!

Rev. Denise Mason Bullitt

Community of Reconciliation Church

December 4, 2011

“Joy through Generosity – Blessed to Be a Blessing”

2nd Sunday of Advent & Stewardship Season

Isaiah 40:1-5 ▪ Psalm 85:8-13 ▪ Mark 1:1-8

Today we celebrate the 2^nd Sunday of Advent and the 2^nd Sunday of our Stewardship Season. While both of these seasons can be a blessing, often either or both causes us consternation… am I right? What do you look forward to with Advent? “The music; singing Christmas Carols, the decorations; parties…” Stewardship? “Being reminded of what matters; opportunity to see new ways to serve God? Discovering how I can give more…” “Impressive!” What do you dread about Advent? “The commercials; being reminded constantly how our spending is improving the economy; too much to do…” Stewardship? “The guilt!... anger that some people aren’t doing their share… looking at what I should be doing but aren’t…”

It is for precisely these reasons that we began both seasons by focusing on Gratitude. Practicing gratitude helps us remember how blessed we are… Practicing gratitude helps recognize we are blessed because we are claimed by God to be saints – holy, with our lives set aside for God. Practicing gratitude helps us to see everyday miracles around us that remind us that God is still God and is present with us through our life’s journey.

Today, I want to turn our focus to generosity. From where I stand and live, generosity follows gratitude. The more blessed I feel, the more generous I become. In my experience, I find that there is a direct collation between my gratitude barometer and my generosity barometer. The more I focus on what I have been given, the more I recognize how much I have and my hands, my heart and my time open much more easily to share with others. When I am focused on what I don’t have, what I’ve loss, what is missing – then, I cling tightly to what I have because I fear I won’t have enough.

The words of the prophet Isaiah (and repeated by John the Baptist in our Gospel lesson) 40:3b, “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God…” speak to us during this season of Advent that is to help us prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ once again. Our psalmist writes (85:10-12), “Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other. Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky. The Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase.”

All 3 passages speak of the connection between our behavior and the coming of the glory of God on earth. Notice that our first stop is the wilderness. God’s realm is hasten when the journey begins with those who are furthest away from the world’s blessings. Whether separated by resources of education, money, indoor plumbing, health care or justice… Whether separated by loneliness, distress, depression… or by a lack of knowledge of God does not matter. What does matter is for those of us who profess to know God, is that our journey includes them.

Have you ever looked around at the state of the world and wondered why God doesn’t just fix it? Have you ever wondered why some have too much and some have too little? Our math wants everything put in a pile and divided equally amongst all… right? Not really, because most of us would have lots to give up if the scales were truly balanced… wouldn’t we?

Here’s how God’s math works… Too much plus too little equals just enough! Want to know why we are in the top 8% of the world’s wealth? Because God trusts us to enter a relationship with him and to share God’s blessings with the rest of the world…We’ve been blessed to be a blessing! We are not poor. We are blessed and amongst the world’s wealthiest and we need to start acting that way.

That is how the mountains are brought low and the valleys are raised up. We who have are to humbly bow down as we lay our gifts on God’s altar. In doing so, others who find themselves laid low in the valleys are lifted up and the ground, on which we all live, becomes level. This is the work of generosity in our lives. This is the place where steadfast love and faithfulness meet and dwell in peace – together. We’ve been blessed to be a blessing!

Here’s the truth…“If we are not generous not only will we always have financial problems but we will also always have spiritual problems as well.”[1]

The way we give to God and Christ Church is directly related to our spiritual health and maturity. If we are giving more for kingdom building activities that we did a year ago, 3 years ago, 10 years ago then we are guaranteed to be growing spiritually because we are holding on less tightly to the world. That’s why we stop each year to measure the percentage of time, talent and money that we are giving so we don’t get confused about how blessed we are and what God intends us to do and be as a result. We’ve been blessed to be a blessing!

“Our tithes and offerings are a tangible sign of our desire to live wholly for God… They demonstrate [and remind us] that we put God first.”[2] Giving of our tithe to the church is the primary way we worship God. If we were to research worship in the scriptures, we would find that giving of tithe and offerings is the primary way in which people worshipped since the earliest biblical times. It wasn’t by singing… it wasn’t by preaching… it was by bringing the first fruits of their labors to the God that they said they adored.[3]

Tithing is the minimum! As those who know the blessings of God, God depends on us to emulate God’s work in the world. That’s how folks know we are God’s people… we behave the same way… We’ve been blessed to be a blessing!

Why is it that the church is to receive the tithe? Because God is concerned that within all we build and create in the world that there will always be the institution of God in society… That’s what the church is. That is what Christ left us for our work… to build up the church in society that every mouth is fed, every thirst is quenched, that the lonely are visited and weak are strengthen… that the coming of the Lord will be revealed.

Doing the work of God in society is meant to be a gift… It is an opportunity to be blessed and the opportunity to be a blessing!

Rev. Denise Mason Bullitt

Community of Reconciliation Church

November 27, 2011

“Joy through Gratitude – Saints & Miracles”

1st Sunday of Advent & Stewardship Season

1 Corinthians 1:1-9 ▪ Mark 13:33-37

Happy New Year! That’s right, in the church’s calendar, a new year has begun… and it begins with Advent – time we set aside to prepare for Christ to enter our lives. We celebrate Advent as the 4 Sundays that lead up to Christmas through Christmas Eve. The season of Christmas, which is celebrated Christmas Day through the first Sunday of the new year, is a relatively short season – in comparison. Why is that? During Advent we need time to throw off all the baggage we’ve picked up as we have lived the ordinary days of life. Advent, like Lent, is a season set aside for us to reorient ourselves back to who we are when we allow ourselves to be in God in Christ.

            Today, we also begin our Stewardship Season. In past years we, like many other churches, have done Stewardship in the fall. But, last year, we did it during Advent and Christmas; and our Worship Leaders thought that it worked well and suggested that we do it so again this year. But, I want to tell why I’m glad they suggested it… Because the Christmas Season that begins in October and ends towards the middle of January is about to drive me out of my right mind and focusing on my stewardship in God helps me maintain my sanity!

            The first point I wish to make – and please forgive me if I shout – Christmas is not our birthday! It’s Jesus’! Jesus, who resisted the world’s notion of power and prestige… Jesus whose life was focused on the least and the disenfranchised.. Jesus who ate with tax collectors and sinners… Jesus who drew away to spend time alone with God as often as he could… Jesus… who knew what it was like to be outcast and alone. This is the One we celebrate at Christmas.

            Here’s the most astonishing thing, if we listen to the world – to all the hype, we are called to celebrate his birthday by buying things we don’t need for the world 8% most wealthy! And, not only that… we also – somewhere along the way – decided to prepare for Christ’s coming by committing and many of the Seven Deadly Sins as possible!

            At some point, we decided that we should celebrate the Prince of Peace, Wonderful Counselor, Son of God by messing up our lives, wreaking havoc on our finances and endangering our relationships. How? I’m glad you asked!

· Gluttony – We are celebrating Christ’s birthday by consuming anything and everything in our wake. From our excess of food, goodies and drink to purchasing everything in every color we can find. Our behavior is nothing short of gluttonous!

· Greed – We have desire that will not end no matter how much we get AND while that would be enough, we don’t want to share!

· Envy – If someone else has it, we want it!

· Pride – How hard is it to admit we can’t afford it? How hard is it to tell our children that from now on we will not charge something on a credit card that we cannot afford to pay at the end of the month? How hard is it to acknowledge that we don’t have the resources to give our children everything that want?

Something in our lives has gone astray… seriously astray. Rev. Dr. Mike Slaughter, pastor of Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church puts it this way… “Too often, however, we view God like Santa Claus –a genie in a bottle, here to fulfill three wishes. All we have to do is name it and claim it, believe it and receive it! We have created the Santa Claus Jesus in our own image, a golden-calf messiah who promises to fulfill all our earthly wants and wishes, an idol of consumption who supports the human quest for meaning and purpose in material things outside of a relationship with God.[1]

Friends, here’s why we are going to talk about this, pray about this and struggle with the hard stuff that is imbedded in this… because, in case you haven’t noticed, the world is not going to be satisfied with just consuming Christmas or just some of us… it is not going to stop until we all are either consumed or join hands and hearts and just say, “NO!”

When I turned on my television on Thanksgiving Eve and saw the line of “Black Friday” shoppers camped out at Best Buys and realized they were going to stay there until midnight on Thanksgiving night, I realized something… they are coming for me too! They are coming for my family, my church, my granddaughter, for our newborns too! And, especially them. If we, Beloved, don’t do something now… if we don’t use the season of Advent to reorient our hearts there is not one soul alive that has a shot at overcoming this world.

            Paul’s first letter to the Church of Corinth’s begins with these words… To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…” Dear friends, Paul is talking to you and me, the church of God that is Community of Reconciliation… we who are called to be saints.

            Friends, the first step in reclaiming our identity in Jesus Christ is to understand and accept that we were born to be holy. Being a saint is not about being morally superior to others. It is about allowing God to claim us as offspring. It is about accepting and incorporating into our very being the notion that God bore us to be extraordinary – not in and of ourselves but, by allow God to occupy and direct our lives. We are ordinary beings set aside for extraordinary purposes - saints. Like stained glass windows, without light shining through them they are just color pieces of glass but when light shines on them they become exquisite - extraordinary!

It is the same with us. Without God’s light shining in on us, we don’t look like much – certainly not anything special but, when God shines a light on us! Watch out! When we turn our lives over to God we become extraordinary and we become part of God’s extraordinary plans and purposes.

            Patrick J. Wilson writes about our sainthood in this way, “There is clarity in knowing that we are ‘called to be saints’; there is power in knowing who [we] are. We are ‘called to be saints,’ and there is power in knowing that, there is freedom and power in knowing who [we] truly are and what we have been given.”[2]

            The people of Corinth who became part of the church were far from perfect people. In fact, their lives were a mess by moral standards. They had a reputation of being “unruly, hard-drinking, sexually promiscuous bunch of people. When Paul arrived with the Message [of Jesus Christ] many of them became believers… [and as they became part of the church,] they brought their reputations with them right into the church.

Paul stayed with them for about a year and a half. He pastored them in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and led them to new life. Sometime later [he] learned that they were falling apart. Fractions had developed, morals were in disrepair, and worship had become competitive. [They looked like anything but saints! Yet,] here’s the neat thing… When Paul writes them, he begins with gratitude.[3]

            He expresses affection for each of them. He gives praise to God for blessing them as a congregation with so many gifts and graces. He thanks God for what God is doing in and through them. He is grateful that God will never abandon nor forsake them no matter what or how they behave. Paul’s gratitude  - a spiritual discipline which he practiced – to help change what he saw when he looked at them. Instead of seeing their mistakes as their identity, his gratitude transformed them into extraordinary saints. Paul’s gratitude helped him to see what God saw. Gratitude brings joy and joy can make for a Christ-mas-miracle!

            I’m sure if Paul is as human as you and I, when he heard about his folks behavior at Corinth, he was not happy. I’m sure he wanted to go and chastise them or wring their necks or shake them! How could they forget so easily all God had done for them? But Paul knows something about being on the wrong side of God and thinking he was all the way right. But, thanks be to God, Jesus Christ stepped into his life and reoriented him. Got him realigned with the God of his heart and because of this Paul was forever grateful and practicing gratitude worked miracles in his life. It turned his outlook from seeing them as sinners to seeing their sainthood – what they become when infused by God.

            “The devil doesn’t need to tempt [us] to do drugs or to steal or to have an extra-martial affair in order to destroy you. All he needs to do is convince you to keep pursing the American Dream – to keep up with the Jonses, borrow against your future, enjoy more than [we] can afford in the present, and indulge [ourselves]. And by doing that, he will rob [us] of joy, make [us slaves], and keep [us] from doing God’s will.[4]

Our Gospel text teaches us about staying awake. It teaches us to stay awake and be attentive because we do not know when Christ will return.  Gratitude, recognizing God at work in our lives and appreciating it, does that. It keeps us awake to God’s presence. It keeps us alert to God’s possibilities. Gratitude replaces fear with joy. Gratitude transforms doubt into hope.

Beloved, having nice things and celebrating Christmas with gifts to those we love is not a bad thing. It is not wrong but it is much, much too small of a way to celebrate the birth of our Liberator and Redeemer Jesus Christ. We need a miracle of gratitude to turn our lives around… to open up our ministry for not our possibilities but for God’s… to change the focus of our world from us to a world focused on God.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let’s make it matter!