CHIMES May 2019

Easter Sermon

“God Still Moves the Stone”

April 21, 2019

Rev. Elizabeth Aguilar

Community Congregational Church of Chula Vista

 

Happy Easter, again! It is indeed a great day to praise God and to give God thanks for what God did for you and for me through the person and work of Jesus Christ. Today we celebrate the fact that death did not have the last word. That on Easter morning nothing could keep Jesus in that tomb- not fear, not death, not our sin; nothing! For, Jesus was and is a person of His word. He had announced he would return to His disciples and He certainly did just that.

This event was SO significant that all 4 Gospel writers had to include it in their accounts. All four accounts have different nuances and details to share with us. If you are like me, you can’t decide which you “like the most” but the version that I finally chose to focus on today is Matthew’s account. But, before we get into that- I want to acknowledge that if you are wondering why there are indeed 4 different versions, you are not alone. Many have wondered why is it necessary. Wouldn’t one version had been enough? Evidently, not. You might wonder why, though?

What helps me to understand why we have different versions of the same story is to think about it in this simple way. It is very easy for two people, and much more 4 people to have gone through the same event and yet re-tell it in a different way. Each one has a different focus, a different perspective. Then, you have the different “audiences” that each Gospel would have been writing for and so their slant on the same event will be different depending on what they want to emphasize.

I think of it like this- I am the youngest of 4 siblings in my family. We may have all been raised in the same household, as we were. We may have all attended the same birthday parties, the same church services, the same Sunday evening dinners (our favorites) but we can each tell a different version of the same event. It doesn’t make it any less true or truer, it just makes it different.

 

Well, the version I finally decided to go with for THIS sermon was Matthew’s version. Why? Because Matthew focuses on three things that I want to focus on, with you, today.

First, the angel in this version tells Mary Magdalene and the “other Mary” not to be afraid. The angel says just that, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus what was crucified. He is not here…” Later, Jesus repeats these same words to them when He met them (in verse 10). He also said, “Do not be afraid.”

I want to pause right there. Do you remember when else we hear these same words from an angel? We heard it when the shepherds were out watching their sheep by night and there was a whole company of angels singing praises to God and they said, “do not be afraid.” We also heard it when the angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and warns him that Herod is looking for baby Jesus and instructs them to go to Egypt, instead of returning to their home town.

These simple three words come up over and over in scripture. It is either said as “do not be afraid” or “do not fear.” We also hear the Angel Gabriel tell Mary “do not fear” when he announces to her that she will give birth to a son, the Messiah.

These words come up SO often that if you were to count them, they would number 365. Isn’t that interesting? One time per each day!

Seems to me that today we too can hold on to these words. Who doesn’t, in fact NEED to hear these words. We all have SOMETHING to fear- whether it is something that is affecting us directly, or something we are worried will happen or something that is concerning our community, or our country or the planet earth.

In fact, I was just reading two recent studies by the Pew Research Center. In one study, it said that in many countries, the majority of people say that global climate change is a “major threat to their nation” and that those concerns have risen since 2013.

As Earth Day nears, The Pew Center conducted a study involving 26 countries. Of those countries studied, only 6 countries showed that less than 60% of the people in that country believe that “global climate change is a major threat to their country.”  (This is from: Spring, 2018 global attitude survey; Pew Research Center, “Fact Tank” News in the Numbers, April 18, 2019)

What are the other top concerns for folks here in the U.S? According to this same article- U.S. folks are most concerned about Cyber attacks, North Korea’s nuclear program, and possible terrorist attack by Isis.

So, apparently, people in the U.S. worry a lot. And people in at least 26 countries worry a great deal about climate change.

So, isn’t it wonderful that God would indeed remind us through scripture (over and over) not to fear? Notice too that the angel did not rebuke the women for feeling fear. Neither is it heard as a rebuke in all the other scenarios I mentioned earlier, in scripture.

Today, I do not mean to say that our fears are unfounded either. We have real reason to fear- as individuals. But God does not want to let that fear rule our heart or our minds. God wants, instead, for us to keep trusting God in all circumstances.

The other reason why I love Matthew’s account and why I wanted to focus on it today is because the angel tells the women to tell the disciples that “indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee.”

Don’t you love that? Jesus goes ahead of us. Jesus knows what valleys, high ways, bi-ways, mountain top experiences, low valley experiences we will have. Jesus knows and Jesus GOES before us.

Therefore, indeed we DO not need to fear. Jesus goes before us, journeys with us, makes a way for us. As we said at the beginning of this Lenten season- where the motif of the wilderness was so present, ever since Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the wilderness. Remember? Even then we were reminded that God journeys with us in our own wilderness experiences! God journeys with us as individuals, has families, as a church, and yes as a nation and a world.

We are NOT left alone to deal with our fear on our own. We are not left to travel through life alone; even when we fear we are alone- we are not alone! This takes me to the last point of this sermon (and who doesn’t like a 3 point sermon, right?!”) ?

My last point to this Easter homily is that not only do we not need to fear, and…not only does Jesus go before us, the SAME resurrection power that RAISED Jesus from the dead, to vanquish death once and for all, that frees us from eternal punishment but instead gives us eternal life- THAT resurrection power that rolled that tomb stone away, is the same kind of power that will roll away the stone that is in front of you!

I don’t know what it is- it can be something horrible, and so scary that it not only frightens you but it paralyzes you. It can be something so terrifying that it is hard for you to speak of and so you don’t. Instead you work too hard, you drink too much, you are angry too often, you sleep too much, you shop too much, you lie too much, you eat too much- you do everything possible to ignore that huge stone that is and has been in your way.

But, the good news- and if there was EVER a day to share the Good news, it is today! the GOOD news, is that God STILL moves stones today!

 

 

Palm Sunday Sermon

Rev. Elizabeth Aguilar

Community Congregational Church of Chula Vista

Scripture Text Luke 19:2-40

 

You might remember that I am originally from the “windy City” of Chicago.  One of those many things I miss about my home city are the big parades it used to have very often. I miss the bigness of them. For instance, I remember one of the last parades I attended was when the Chicago Bears won the Super Bowl. I think it was probably one of the BIGGEST parades that Chicago had seen at that time. That one was pretty spectacular. There was SO much confetti and ticket tap that you could hardly see the players on the cars, floats and buses. The whole city was in fiesta mode and the people of Chicago couldn’t do enough to show their excitement for that Super Bowl win!

So, why am I thinking of parades? Well, because it’s Palm Sunday and today we celebrate that day in history when the people of Jerusalem “threw a parade” of sorts for Jesus. It must have been quite an event since all four Gospel writers give accounts of it and it is the only parade documented for us in scripture. Of course, on that first Palm Sunday we don’t see any confetti or ticket tape thrown here and there. No, instead we see coats being thrown on the ground in honor of Jesus’ presence. And, instead of a parade float or a big double-decker bus, there is only a lowly donkey. Then, instead of the crowd cheering on a popular athlete, we see Jesus and his disciples.

Of course, everything we know of a parade to be like today isn’t anything like that first parade. Instead, we see very simple images in the Palm Sunday parade, don’t we? It is joyous yes, but very simple. The joy is seen and heard in the voices of the people and their gestures of placing their coats on the ground. In the other Gospel accounts, we see the joy also in the waving of the branches of palm leaves. Interestingly, in Luke’s account of this story we don’t see any palms. So, the image is even simpler in Luke.

Yet, we know that regardless of the simplicity of this celebration, what this parade represents is anything BUT simplicity. No, this parade isn’t anything like any kind of parade the people would have been accustomed to even back then. For instance, there is no chariot for a king to have used. We see no servants or an army around him. There is no long procession. There is just Jesus and his disciples, plus the other people who were spectators and then the Pharisees as well.

So, what are we meant to make of this particular parade? And, what are we to make of Jesus’ instructions before His grand entrance, which were full of detail and predication? Then, what are we meant to make of the disciples’ obedience, and the ridicule of the Pharisees?

The first thing we can notice is that Jesus had very particular instructions for the disciples on this day. These instructions show us that Jesus knew exactly what he wanted to do and what must happen. He does this according to the prophetic account of Zachariah (hundreds of years before) when, in chapter 9, verse 9, the prophet says the following. “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey.”

So firstly, Jesus decided to carry-out this prediction because of obedience. You see, He was obedient to what scripture had said about him hundreds of years before and therefore He was obedient to the way and will of God, His Father. Now, He could have skipped the parade all together. Or He could have not bothered to use a donkey and it’s symbolism of humility. He could have skipped ALL of HOLY WEEK for that matter! But, no Jesus enters Jerusalem- the city that he loved in this very simple, prophetic, way. Interestingly, by doing so He allowed the people (to show Him their love and honor) only to then show them their hatred and disapproval of Him a few days later. So, Jesus’ instructions to his disciples and his actions all spell out humility, obedience and bravery to us, don’t they?

          Thirdly, Jesus decided to come in simplicity. He could have come into Jerusalem in grand fashion. Not with the tattered coats of strangers on the ground. Not riding a lowly donkey. Not with a group of unrecognized, unimportant, un-educated men whom he chose as His disciples.

And so we see that Jesus had made a decision and that decision wasn’t an easy one. You see, He chose the hard road. He chose the way of obedience, the way of humility and simplicity, and the way of the cross and all of it began on that first Palm Sunday.

I wonder though, what do His decisions tell us about our decisions? What does his attitude, actions, and decisions tell us of our own?

After all, if we claim to be Christians then surely, we must still desire to be like Christ, correct? Of course, it may be difficult to do so when the way of the world tells us that the “bigger and splashier” we do things, the better we are. That the more popularity and money you have, the better. The more important friends you surround yourself with, the better. We live in a culture of image after all!

I will never forget what I experienced about this issue of “image” when I first lived here California, for close to three years in the 1990’s. Of course, California is probably the most image- conscious area of the country. So the following might not surprise you.  Yet, I remember it was here that I first heard of people who were called “image consultants.” I had never heard of such a job title before? What was an image consultant, I wondered?

Well the job meant that someone’s entire efforts centered on the need to make someone else look beautiful and seem important. Of course, today, we people don’t need image consultants because all we need are our camera phones! All we have to do is get the “right angle” and post it on facebook or Instagram…

But what about Jesus? Do you think He went into Jerusalem that Palm Sunday, riding on a donkey, letting people cry out to him, “blessed be the name of the Lord!” because he was most interested in his popularity or image? No, of course not.

His entrance into Jerusalem was instead, about carrying out a decision that He had made; a decision that would cost Him His life but would give us our life. So, back to my question. What do Jesus’ decisions of taking the humble way and the hard way tell us about our decisions?

What choice is it that you must make on behalf of your Christian faith today? Is God calling you to choose Him above something or someone else right now? Is there someone or something else that you have chosen over your faith?

What attitude is the Lord asking you to lay down and let go of in order to make room for a closer walk with Him? Is it an attitude of greatness or pride? Is it an attitude of un-forgiveness, that you’re being asked to lay down in order to make room for Jesus again in your heart or your home?

This Palm Sunday we are invited to examine the decisions that Jesus took on our behalf and then to ask ourselves if we are willing to make those same decisions.

You might be thinking that it was easy for Jesus to take the hard road, the lonelier road of obedience and humility but too difficult for us. Yet, we must remember that it wasn’t easy for him at all. Do you remember that in a very human and difficult moment, while it at the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus asked His Father to take the cup of suffering away, if at all possible?   So, no we can’t use that as an excuse.

Then, we might be thinking well if Jesus was able to do what he did then great, why can’t I just admire him? Because then we would just be like the spectators that day on the first Palm Sunday. We cannot just stand on the side lines and follow Jesus only when it’s easy or convenient, or popular, to do so. No, we must follow him, worship, obey him, and serve him in ALL circumstances.

The good news is that as we allow ourselves to walk w/ Him toward the cross, (to let go of all that keeps us away from Him and perpetuates our sin)- we can also walk with Him toward victory. For we must remember that all that we experience, all that we see, feel, or even suffer on earth because of our faith will not be in vain. For, we do not walk toward the cross on our own. Let us remember that while Jesus did walk the road of obedience and suffering. Jesus did not do so in vain. Therefore, we will not walk in vain when we chose to follow Him over and above all else.  Are you ready to choose Him over and above all else; above all pride, all desires, all false gods of wealth and stature? May the Lord give us the grace, courage and conviction to do so. Amen.

Sermon: Spontaneous Love

Sunday, April 7, 2019

5th Sunday of Lent

Rev. Elizabeth Aguilar

 

Scripture text is John 12:1-8

 

Have you ever been at a gathering where someone shows their love for someone else in such a way that you can’t help but just stare at what’s going on? I have. I think of weddings where the love between the couple is so evident it is so sweet or down right moving and powerful to witness. Their love seems almost breathtaking. I also think of when I’ve been with many a patient or parishioner and their family members gathered around the hushed room, as it is close to the person’s time of death. I think of when I’ve witnessed a family member lovingly place lotion on their loved one’s hands, arms, feet. It is a tender touch, a lavish display of love.

 

This scripture makes me think of these kinds of demonstrations of spontaneous love. Not forced, not phony in any way. But pure, powerful, palpable…

 

It was in the midst of a dinner gathering where Jesus was shown spontaneous love. The gathering began was surrounded by some of his best friends- Mary, Martha, Lazarus whom he had recently brought back to life. His disciples were there as well. It makes sense if you think about it- Jesus would want to spend quality time among those whom he knew and loved right before his journey into Jerusalem, into his eventual journey toward Calvary, just six days away…

So here we see Mary take out expensive perfume and drenches Jesus’ feet with it and then unabashedly wiped his feet with her hair.

 

Now remember for a woman to touch a man she is not married to would have been scandalous enough. To drench him with perfume would have been almost unthinkable. Not to mention the perfume was indeed expensive. It was, in fact, worth 300 times a daily wage for a laborer at that time. That WAS expensive perfume!

 

You might find yourself feeling more like Judas perhaps. After all, couldn’t that amount of money be spent on some more needy people? Some folks who are down on their luck, poor, destitute?

 

But then again, if you were Mary, who’s brother had died recently and then Jesus has brought back to life- what would you NOT do to show your gratitude to Jesus?

Remember, Mary has been the one who was already able and willing to listen to Jesus. She knew who he was long before Martha, her busy sister could understand the magnitude of Jesus in her midst. So, she knows Jesus’s worth, sort to speak, right away. Now, after her brother has been brought back to life, she is especially grateful and especially ready to show Jesus her love for him.

 

But back to Judas- we know what Judas later did, of course. But at this time, he was the treasurer of the disciple’s money. Scripture tells us he was stealing from their “common purse.” Therefore, his “concern” wasn’t genuine. It was fake. But putting that aside for a movement. If we think of the amount that perfume was worth, what would you think?

 

What would you do if you were given $28,000 dollars? Perhaps you would give some of it to the church. Some to pay your bills. Some to take a vacation- summer is right around the corner…

 

Today’s scripture invites us to consider how we show love toward God. Are we like Mary someone SO grateful for what Jesus has done for us that we can’t help but show extravagant love toward Him? Or are we more practically minded? Conservative even with what we have because after all we want to be wise with what we have to make it last as long as possible.

 

Honestly, while I can say I am truly grateful for all that God has done for me- does for me; for who God IS in my life I don’t think I would have the guts to do something quite like Mary did at that dinner. I would probably be more like Judas, suspicious of her actions, judgmental of her lavish display of affection and reckless use of costly perfume.

But after Judas questions Mary notice Jesus’s famous response. “You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” Erroneously, many have believed that Jesus meant the poor didn’t matter. But, what he meant was that their love for Jesus would not take away from their service to the poor. There is enough love, in other words, to go around.

 

And that takes me back to us, today. We are now living in a time of our country where we have been sold a lie- which is that we only have just so much resources to go around. That we must be very careful with our resources because there just isn’t enough to share. We are taught what is ours, is ours. It isn’t supposed to be shared extravagantly.

 

But Jesus’ words tell us otherwise. Jesus tells us that it is more than okay to show great love to Him by sharing our resources with Him, with His church, and yes, with All of his children- where there they look like us, vote like us, speak like us, love like us, are the same color as us, are “so called” deserving “like us.”

God DOES invite us to be careful yes but to be extravagant in our love and generosity.

 

That extravagant love is contagious.

Jesus visits with his close friends a few days before his entry into Jerusalem and his days before his crucifixion. As we approach Holy Week, next week, we too are asked to consider showing Jesus our gratitude with extravagant love. Not to show off our faith. N

 

Not to prove that we are somehow good Christians, but out of a natural response to our gratitude for who God is, for what God does, for the many ways in which God shows us God’s love.

We have a choice. Will we look inward or will be look out-ward? Will we love the loveless?

As we approach the communion table where Jesus is the host, let us approach it with thanksgiving for what He did- for stopping at nothing to save us of our sins. For giving us the chance of eternal life. For giving us the opportunity of new life in Him. For showing us what love looks like. Amen.