1^st Sunday in November (Week 45) (John 11:1 – 12:11 and Acts 20:7-12)

 Is there anyone who does not know that the world is encircled by a culture of fear? Fear is the one international, cross-racial, reality people face whenever they wake up in the morning or turn the next corner. The culture of fear is not an accident. There are many powerful institutions, movements, and people who want it that way. Fear allows them to control our lives and manipulate our pocket books and shape our relationships. Once you see this, it takes the “fun” out of Halloween. A seemingly innocuous holiday for children suddenly becomes a marketing strategy for fear.

Team Meditation (Acts 20:7-12)

What a peculiar kind of exorcist Paul is! He remains absolutely calm and confident, and says “Do not be alarmed, for life is still in him!” Even when death seems to have won, and a beloved child or parent or friend is no longer breathing, Christians can say “don’t panic … there is still life in them”. People worry so much about possession by demons and devils and addictions, but the real power is located in whomever or whatever controls death itself. In the face of the power to overcome death, there is no mini-power than can every have real power. God’s last word is life. It always is. There is no duality, no warring factions, and no threat to the absolute power of God for life. This is the problem with talk about spiritual warfare. God didn’t even have to win that batter … his power was never in jeopardy. The issue is whether we live in God … or live in fear. God’s love will cast out fear.

Worship Theme (John 11:1 – 12:11)

One of the great “horror story” themes is the threat of being “buried alive”. Immediately we imagine the claustrophobia, panic, sense of doom, and inevitable slow starvation. It’s a nightmare. The nightmare turns into a dream, however, when Christian faith affirms that we have “buried alive” for a long time already. We have been buried by selfishness and fear, but we have grown accustomed to our tomb and think it is the real world. Suddenly in our heart of darkness we hear a voice: “Lazarus, come out!” And our little world is split open to a dazzling light we never imagined. And there is Christ. Where Christ is, that is the real world.

Worship Planning (John 11:1 – 12:11)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 

2^nd Sunday in November (Week 46) (2 Kings 4 and 5; Luke 4:31 – 5:26) 

God heals, but not always in the ways we expect or with the results that we desire. There is so much mystery and ambiguity about healing. Why heal this one, and not that one? Why heal a foreigner, and not a member? Why heal an enemy, who will go on being an enemy, and not a friend, who might go on being a friend? Our certainty is not that we will always be healed, but that we will always be loved.

Team Meditation (Luke 4:31-5:26)

Luke 5:22-24   ²² When Jesus perceived their questionings, he answered them, "Why do you question in your hearts?  ²³ Which is easier, to say, `Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, `Rise and walk'?  ²⁴ But that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins" -- he said to the man who was paralyzed -- "I say to you, rise, take up your bed and go home."

The reason healing is more complicated and mysterious than we think is that there is a deeper, spiritual problem that must be overcome. It is not just a matter of healing the body. The greater challenge is healing the soul … the spirit … the human condition itself. In this world, we can be healed today and be run over by a bus upon leaving the hospital. The same person who is healed can go forth, as did Naaman the Syrian general, and take the lives of countless others. The bigger problem is not our ill health, but our sinfulness, and this is the greater grace that God provides in Jesus Christ. We think that the healing of the paralytic is something, but Jesus knows it is really nothing. Even modern medicine can do the same. But who can overcome the human condition? Who can break the power of sin and evil? Who can change the inevitability of death? That is the real healing power of Christ.

Worship Theme (2 Kings 4-5)

There are two constants in the Old and New Testament behind every experience of healing. There is the persistence of the supplicant; and the spiritual authority of healer.

The poor Shunammite woman (a foreigner and an outcast) is determined that Elisha will hear her story. No risk is too great and no cost is too high. It is a faith born of desperation and love, but faith no less. It is unreasoning, passionate, dependence on the grace of God.

Elisha (the prophet and spiritual leader) has an authority to do the miraculous. It cannot be transferred by appointment. His slave cannot exercise it, even with the trappings of office. It clings to the person of Elisha, and requires the very touch of his body and communication of his soul.

All this is true about the healings of Jesus. The good news is that while Elisha is gone, Jesus the Christ is always present. We can always fly to him for grace, in absolute surrender and hope. And whatever happens, we know he loves us.

++++++++++++++++++

3^rd Sunday in November (Week 47) (1 John 3:11 – 5:5 and Luke 11:14-36) 

“God is love.” Everybody believed God is love. It is a comfortable thing to believe, and a convenient thing to believe. If we believe God is love, we think we can. We think we can do whatever we want, and still be accepted. We can make up any excuse for even the worst behavior, and we will come to no harm.

 Christians are different. We believe God is love … but God’s love is a particular kind of love.

 It is sacrificial love. It is the kind of love that stakes everything, and risks anything, even what is absolutely most precious in our lives, even the life and well-being of our own children, for the sake of a total stranger or someone we absolutely dislike. It is love that will give up someone who deserves to be love, for the sake of somebody who does not deserve to be loved.

 It is forgiving love. It is the kind of love that understands evil, and even suffers evil, yet without recrimination or vengeance. It is love that turns the other cheek … but only after the first cheek is already stinging with a slap in the face.

 It is fearless love. It is love that is not afraid of rejection. It is love that dares a rebuke, and keeps on coming despite all resistance. It is love that is relentless and compassionate and purposeful. It is love that is going to bless us whether we like it or not.

 There is one more way Christians differ from others in their believe that “God is love”. Christians believe that not only is God like this, but we are suppose to love like this, too. Love is never about me. It’s always about you.

Team Meditation (Luke 11:14-36)

Luke 11:33-36  ³³ "No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a bushel, but on a stand, that those who enter may see the light.  ³⁴ Your eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is sound, your whole body is full of light; but when it is not sound, your body is full of darkness.  ³⁵ Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness.  ³⁶ If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light."

This is one of those passages that can only be interpreted as a kind of analogy. It carries a deeper message that can only be interpreted when the heart is aligned to God. Jesus has just finished warning the disciples that in the pagan world there will be many competing faiths, and people will want to believe whatever is most comfortable or reassuring, but fail to see the truth. In order to understand the truth … and communicate the truth … church leaders must be spiritually disciplined in prayer, searching for the deeper import of scripture, deepening their bond of brotherhood and sisterhood with like-hearted colleagues, in spirited conversation with history, and with intense compassion to for strangers to grace. What would it be like to be “full of light”? It would be the opposite, for example, of being “filled with cancer”. One would be radiant in health and vitality, the life of Christ revealed transparently through every pore of one’s being. Only then can we “see” clearly, and discern the real truth of God’s purpose.

Worship Theme (1 John 3:11 – 5:5)

“Test the spirits”, the mentor says. Do not just gullibly swallow whatever Oprah tells you, or whatever some preacher preaches, or whatever the Hollywood star proclaims, or even whatever news reporters declare with supposed omniscience. Who speaks for God? Who points to God? How would we know? Because they will look like Jesus. They will behave like Jesus. They will love like Jesus. God is love. We all know that. The problem is, we don’t really know what love … true love … looks like. We have only experienced approximations at best. Only in Christ do we see the real thing.

Worship Design (1 John 3:11 – 5:5)

+++++++++++++++++++++

4^th Sunday in November (Week 48) (Isaiah 9:1-7 and 11:1-9; Luke 21:25-36)

Isaiah 9:6  ⁶ For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Young believers in Christ can stand up to almost anything. They can overcome evil, survive heated debate, and even endure persecution. But there is one thing more daunting to a new believer than any of these things: mockery. Young believers squirm under the laughter, chuckles, and cynical jibes of their friends. They hate to look merely foolish in the eyes of their non-Christian work associates. If anything will cause them to disguise or hide their faith, it is the threat of being a joke.

Already the date and location of the company Christmas party has been announced. You can anticipate extent of the carousing, the quantities of alcohol, and the ruthless humor that will pervade the party. You are a new Christian. Everyone knows that. And you are going to be the butt of more than one guffaw.

Why? It’s because cause Christmas elicits the most extravagant and unbelievable statements of the Bible … like the prediction of Isaiah above. How could any reasonable realist believe such exaggerations as this? This is a real test of faith. If this statement is not actually true, then nothing else really matters, and you may as well get drunk. Yet what if it is true? Then all the rest of your faith is secure, and “the joke” is on those who mock it.

Team Meditation (Luke 21:25-36)

Church leaders are pretty good at planning and not bad at acting. We’ve got passivity down cold, particularly if in so doing we can be merciful and nice to people who don’t want to change. We are very sensitive to the body language of our members; somewhat sensitive to the demographic trends of the mission field; but remarkably poor at watching for the Lord. Jesus doesn’t need to be incognito in the world. He can be completely himself, in all his glory, and still we would miss him. The problem is that we don’t really expect him. Sure, Jesus might sneak into the neighborhood in disguise, but we don’t really think he will come into the neighborhood with power! Yet that is exactly what he said he would do. Watch him.

Worship Theme (Isaiah 9:1-7 and 11:1-9)

The only real hope of peace is in justice. What we know as peace is simply an unjust world catching its breath. Perhaps it will last a day, or a week, or a decade. But eventually the sin will be ascendant again. People will do increasingly stupid, arrogant, selfish things; victims will grow impatient, frustrated, and vengeful. And it will start again. In order to find real, lasting peace, the world longs to receive a completely just and righteous leader. Obviously, this is going to be an unusually person!

For one thing, this person will have to be perfect. Sinless. Void of self-interest. Incorruptible. For another thing, this person has to be shrewd. Insightful. Perceptive of the deepest possibilities for redemption or deception. Non-manipulatable. Finally, and most importantly, this person better not die. The world has not had a good track record with “succession”. There is only one person who can fulfill that expectation. Remember him?

Worship  Design (Isaiah 9:1-7 and 11:1-9)