(This sermon is based on Psalm 100:5 and is a memorial for a fellow that is a member of my church since his childhood, though he had not attended for almost 40 years.  He lived his life well, was a man of great humor – and one of the most unpretentious people you’d ever meet.  The sermon recounts my last few conversations with him.  I don’t know about the congregation, but this memorial sermon was one of the most enjoyable and meaningful messages God has blessed me to preach.)

I first met Billy Snead when he was at MCV undergoing chemotherapy for the blood cancer he’d battled for many years.  I was fairly new to Patterson Avenue Baptist – new to the city of Richmond.  I had been told that Billy was one to speak his mind and that I should not be shocked by anything that came out of his mouth.

I entered the room and introduced myself, “Hello, I’m Bill Nieporte, pastor of the Patterson Avenue Baptist Church, where you are a member!”

He replied, “Where the hell have you been for 35 years?”

I imagine that’s how long it had been since Billy had been to church.

So, I pulled up a seat, started from 35 years back, and recounted nearly every placed I’d lived since I was in Middle School in Daytona Beach, Florida.  When I was finished, Billy said, “Remind me to never ask you a question like that again!”

When people find out I am a pastor, they often temper their conversation around me.  I remember once, in my first full-time church on the Northern Neck, driving to visit a church member after a heavy snow.  I lost control, took out this fellow’s mailbox, and landed in a ditch in his front yard.

He blasted out of his house using all kinds of creative conversation.  I’d heard all the words he’d used before, just never in the order in which he used them.

When he finished, I said, “I am sorry about this.  I am looking for Luther Welch, one of my church members.  I am the brand new pastor at Morattico Baptist Church.”

Well, he looked at white as the snow on the ground in his yard.  “Oh, Luther is a good man, yes, indeed.  I know a lot of people down at your church.  I am a member up the road at the Methodist Church.  I serve on the session…”  and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.  After hearing that I was a pastor, this fellow’s speech was converted from that of a drunken sailor into that of a stained glassed saint.

People like that bug me.  I appreciate people who are true to themselves…people who do not put on airs or pretend to be something different depending on who is standing nearby.

That’s why I liked my encounters with Billy Snead.  He never pretended to be anyone other than who he was.  His motto in life might have been like that of the old cartoon character Popeye, “I Yam What I Yam!”  Billy never pretended to be something he wasn’t.

I did not see or talked with Billy very often over the next few years.  I did pass on word through his brother Brian that I was willing to come and listen – come and talk – whatever Billy wanted.  What I refused to do was been one of those preachers who would take aim at Billy to get another notch on some gospel gun.

So I was amazed when Billy sent word through Brian that he would like me to visit.

When I arrived, Billy and Evelyn were on the back porch.  The Hospice nurse was saying her goodbyes as I arrived along with Brian.

We went inside.  Billy laid back on the couch to get comfortable and said, “Okay, shoot!”

I wasn’t sure what he meant.

I didn’t know if he wanted me to put him out of his misery; or if he wanted me to preach a sermon; or perhaps go into some gospel song-and-dance.  None of those things are me, so I said, “Well, Billy, you are the one who invited me over here.  You shoot!”

He did!

“I do not want to become religious,” he said.  “I have not been a religious man for most of my life.  People would see through it completely if I were to become a religious person now at the end of my life.”

I listened and replied, “Why the hell would you want to be religious.  I sure don’t want you to get religious, Billy.  You might think it strange to hear this, but I am probably the least religious pastor you’d ever meet.”

“In fact,” I continue, “Jesus had more trouble with the religious people than he did with everyday people.  That’s why the religious people conspired together to put Jesus to death.  Jesus doesn’t want you to become religious either.”

Then I said:  “Billy, I am not going to come in here and preach a sermon.  I am not going to try to make you religious.  You are right, everyone would see through that.”

It was quite for a few moments.

“Is there anything else you’d like to say,” I asked.

“Well, not only am I not religious.  I am also not sure I believe there is a God.”

“Okay!” I said.

There was silence for a few moments.  Then I added, “I am not able to prove there is a God.  I can’t look at God under a microscope or see God in a telescope.  All I can say is that I have had an experience with God and for me God is very real.”

“There is no way anyone can know for certain!” Billy said.

“You’re right.  You really can’t prove there is not a God and I cannot prove there is.  So I wonder, ‘Might you be willing to accept that God might actually exist.’”

“I guess it is possible.  There is no way to know.” he said.

“And if that God did exist, would you want that God to be good, loving, and kind – and not so hung up on if you act religious or not.”

He agreed that he would want that kind of God and I assured him that this is the God I represent.

Then Billy said, “I want to have my funeral service at the church!”

I smiled and said, “And you say that God doesn’t exist!”

He ignored that comment.

I told him that he was a member of that church – had been since the days of his youth – and that we would certainly be willing to have his funeral in the church.

Then we talked about various aspects of the service.  Who he’d like to speak, and sing, and how he’d like to be remembered.

He said, “I would like you to conduct my service.  But I have been to a lot of funerals where the preacher was talking about somebody he’d never known.  I do not think that fair to the preacher so I wanted you to come by so you could get to know me.”

“I understand,” I said.  “Tell me about yourself.  What is there to know?”

“There isn’t much to say,” he replied.

There are actually a lot of things that could be said.

Billy was not a tall man, but whenever he entered a room, he was large and in charge.  He had the kind of persona that demanded attention and attracted people like a magnet.

Evelyn showed me some pictures of Billy on an annual fishing trip with some friends who he had known since the second grade.  Billy was the smallest man in the group – but he was evidently the leader of the pack.  They all knew, loved, and appreciated Billy Snead.

I saw several pictures of Billy with baseball teams he had play on and coached.  Billy was a big sports fan.  As he wrote in his obituary, “One of my passions was playing sports, although I was not endowed with size, speed or talent. I played as hard as I could in every game I ever got in.”

I love the picture of Billy on the baseball card.  It says, “FBS!”  It was created by a team of friends he left so he could get more play time on another.  If you wonder what that means, the family and I have decided that we will say it means, “Friend of Billy Snead” as long as we are in the church building. Some of you might know different, but that’s what we are going to go with while we are together in this place.

Billy had a successful career in business, having negotiated various kinds of contracts on a national and international level with the Reynolds’s Metal.  He was known by business, union, and corporation leaders all over the world.

Somehow Billy became connected to Jack Nicholson.  He and Evelyn stayed with Nicholson and his people in a mansion a studio had rented for Jack while he was filming a movie.  Billy even had three or four walk on parts in a few of Nicholson’s movies.

Billy loved his mother and father.  He even spoke at his own mother’s funeral (which had to be a challenge).  I am told his opening line was, “Momma always wanted me to be a preacher.”  I am told he owned the platform whenever he stood in front of a crowd to speak.

Billy was a terrific story-teller, loved to tell jokes, and could ad lib some of the funniest lines in any conversation.

Billy was also quite the craftsman.  If you have been to the house – then you have probably seen the “outhouse.”  If you haven’t seen it, you are missing something special.

He and Evelyn had a happy marriage, three terrific daughters, several grand-children, and extended family members whom he loved – and who loved him.  He always brought smiles to their faces and joy to their lives.

Like I said, “Billy was large and in charge” most of his life.  It was the challenges of the last few years – and particularly these last several weeks – that must have taken its told.  In death, we all face one of the few things in life that NONE of us can control.  Billy could not control the when, were, or how of his eventual death.

That’s not to say he did not face it with courage.  That’s not to say that he did not face it on his own terms.  That’s not to say that he allowed it to change who he was in any way.  It didn’t!

It is to say that he was not large or in charge.  That’s the reality we all have to deal with when we come face-to-face with our own mortality.  In the end, it’s just us and God.

That’s the one thing I prayed that Billy would discover.  I wanted him to know that there was a God – and I prayed that Billy would discover that this God fit the description of the Psalmist whom I quoted a few moments ago.

 “For the Lord is good, His unfailing love continues forever, and His faithfulness continues to each generation.”

On that Monday afternoon visit, Billy agreed that there might be a God – and if there were, he hoped that God might be good, unfailing in love, and faithful for all eternity.

Billy also agreed that I could come back and visit again.

At the time I hoped that Billy might have several weeks – even months – before he passed.  I hoped that I would have several more visits to get to know him and enjoy his personality.

The following Saturday, however, I received a call that Billy was very near death.

I went over to the house and went into the room.  I introduced my presence in the room and Billy said, “It’s PB!”  I didn’t understand the reference and asked him what he meant.

“Pastor Bill!” he said.

I am told that I had arrived, since he had given me a nickname.

I sat next to him and held his hand.  There was a little bit of small talk about how he was feeling, which was not well.  He was in obvious discomfort.

After a few minutes, I said.  “Billy, I promised you I would not come here and preach a sermon to you or try to make you religious, and I intend to keep my promise.  So, I am going to leave, but before I do, I wonder if there is anything you want to say to me as a pastor.”

“No!” he said.

“That’s fine,” I replied.  “Can I say a prayer for you before I go?”

“Yes, please!” he said.

As I held his hand, I prayed that Billy would know God’s as good, loving, and faithful.  I prayed that he would discover that God has offered him grace and acceptance through Jesus.  I prayed that he would know that God did not expect him to be religious, but wanted Billy for relationship.

When I finished praying, Billy squeezed my hand and said quietly, “Amen!”

The word “Amen” means, “So be it.”  It is the word we say at the end of a prayer as an expression of agreement and affirmation of the words that have just been spoken.

Billy was a smart man.  I know that he knew that.  I believe that “Amen” was Billy’s best possible response to God’s love and grace – and I think it was more than sufficient.

A few moments after my visit, one of Billy’s sisters was in the room.  Billy was very frustrated, dealing with great discomfort, and trying to say his goodbyes to his family.  Billy took a deep breath and said to his sister, “I am going to be alright!”

Yes, Billy is alright!

The next morning, around 10:00 AM, Billy’s fight ended.  It was the end to a life lived well.  It was a life filled with love.  As Billy said in his obituary, “A life without love is not worth living.”

I am told that somebody, hearing of my conversation with Billy, said to Evelyn, “I understand that Billy made peace with God.”  To which, Evelyn respond, “Yes, but he hasn’t done any witnessing.”

That’s right.  Billy didn’t do any witnessing.  He did not become religious.

What happened was that the goodness, unfailing love, and faithfulness of God were expressed to Billy.

This God doesn’t ask us to be religious.  This God doesn’t have a long list of expectation and demands to which we must adhere.  All God hopes for is that we might know that He is real; that He is good and gracious; that His love and faithfulness toward us have been expressed in Jesus – and that when we discover all of that grace and love that our heart might simply say, “Amen!”

“For the Lord is good, His unfailing love continues forever, and His faithfulness continues to each generation.”

 Let the people say…AMEN!

Found this article in my search for information on the doctrine of the Trinity and found it very provocative.

Trinity Versus Tyranny—Final Battle Over Fate of Man

This essay attempts to answer a baffling question: Why has the West for centuries dominated legal, artistic, religious and humanistic advances over the rest of the globe? The answer offered here is rooted in foundational theological concepts predominant in different religions. In brief, the claim is the doctrine of the trinity is a more powerful and subtle foundation for a society than radical monotheism, found in either Islam or Marxism.
The argument of this essay is Western man is threatened by the evil impulses of radical monotheism, jealously seeking to replace classic Western trinitarian society. Whether one thinks the successes of trinitarian society are an accident of history, or by design, will naturally reflect one’s own religious presuppositions.One cannot argue traditional Christianity was anything but beneficial to the arts, sciences, law, statecraft and liberty. In fact, the West was founded upon a 2,000 year old experiment in Christian society building, but now awaits the menace of radical monotheism threatening to send the West into a brutal new Dark Ages. Put blankly, in a society where a singular vision is established, disseminated and made the only legal belief system, there will always be brutal tyranny enforcing this vision.

I. From Trinity to Tyranny

A. Complex God of Judaism & ChristianityThe more singular minded a society, the less creative, free, safe or productive it is. For example, imagine working as an artist in Saudi Arabia, given extreme Islamic censorship. Or, ponder guidelines placed upon journalism in the USSR, done in the name of the Revolution—as described in Jeffrey Brooks,’ Thank You, Comrade Stalin!: Soviet Public Culture from Revolution to Cold War.

1. Yahweh: God of the Jews
In the history of the Church, one traces back to the Hebrew Pentateuch for an introduction to God, expressed both singularly and plural. For example, in Genesis 1:26-27, the author states:

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Here we see God referring to Himself in both the singular and plural, and also as having male and female aspects. This offers a true complex godhead.

2. Trinity: Jesus, Father & Spirit
Later, in the New Testament the authors reveal a God of three persons in many passages. For example, John 1:1 states about Jesus:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Later in the same chapter (John 1:18) the writer says:

No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

In both verses Christ is portrayed as the Word (Logos) Jesus and God Jesus, the Only Begotten. Jesus earlier had promised his followers to send the personal Holy Spirit when he left in John 14: 16-17.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth.

B. Impact of Christian Anti-Trinity Heresy

Christopher Fitzsimons Allison describes the historic impact of mistaken Christian belief in The Cruelty of Heresy. He asks whether society should be oriented reflecting the one or the many? This was solved by the Trinity, which allowed both, key to creating a society which battles tyranny. Allison describes the tragic result of superficial responses to this issue, writing:

Simple solutions to the one and the many sacrifice the diversity and individuality of the many for an imposed and tyrannical unity of the one, or sacrifice the unity (family, nation, business, club, or church) for the sake of the pluralism and diversity of the many.

Allison describes how the image of God one chooses, or His utter rejection, massively impacts society, directly shaping the related image of humans in tribe, city and nation. For example, if mankind is created in God’s image, then one can claim rights reflecting this connection. Specifically, the Bible and Ten Commandments offer an argument humans have a right not to be murdered. For instance, in Genesis 9:6 it states as part of Yaweh’s covenant with Noah:

Whoever sheds human blood,
by humans shall their blood be shed;
for in the image of God
as God made mankind.

When the biblical Trinity God is rejected, chaos ensues. For example, consider the 100+ million souls murdered in communist nations, innocent of any specific crime. Who was the “God” in these officially atheistic societies? Ultimately, just a human leader, such as Stalin, Lenin or Mao. We witnessed the massive cults portraying these leaders as super efficient, imbued with divine insights, and error-free.

Christian theologians claim the trinity offers a nuanced description of the universe, an example for democracy. The Three take counsel with Each Other, doing all things according to Divine Law. So trinitarian societies opened the door for human creativity, innovation and liberty. An application of the one/many trinity construct is federalism, a Hebrew innovation, recognizing the many and one within a political context, making more of each than either could on its own. Such is the history of covenant theology and political theory.

II. Arabian Peninsula: Muslim Radical Monotheism

A. Development of Islamic Theology

Islam explains itself a continuation of Jewish and Christian biblical revelations. Yet, according to theologians, Islam rejects the biblical deity. From a Jewish perspective, it’s error to say God is wholly unknowable as His Word reveals His Person. From a Christian view, the radical monotheism of Islam represents not just a mistaken view of the deity, but an utter rejection of His personality and nature knowable in Christ.

John Paul II develops this criticism in Crossing the Threshold of Hope:

Whoever knows the Old and New Testaments, and then reads the Koran, clearly sees the process by which it completely reduces Divine Revelation. It is impossible not to note the movement away from what God said about Himself, first in the Old Testament through the Prophets, and then finally in the New Testament through His Son. In Islam all the richness of God’s self-revelation, which constitutes the heritage of the Old and New Testaments, has definitely been set aside.

B. Islam & Freedom

We have a conundrum. While today Muslim nations are repressive, yet Islam boasts a rich history of intellectual achievements. So which claim is true? In fact, both represent certain historical facts. Islam was an incubator of past innovations, technologies and arts, as well as heirs of the Greek classical literary canon. But whether Islam was a creator of unique intellectual achievement is a different story.

According to Edward Hungerford, in an essay in the Atlantic Monthly, The Intellectual Mission of the Saracens, the legend of Islam’s creativity is overstated. Instead, he claims as Islam swept across the Middle East, etc, Muslims preserved learning. But for original scholarship they left practically zero record of novel discoveries or intellectual breakthroughs. Their innovations were borrowed from previous cultures. Hungerford states,

The heights of culture actually attained were reached in spite of the restraints of Islam rather than through encouragement given by it. The religion of Mohammed, founded in opposition to liberal learning, never ceased to oppose that learning. Science made headway against a religious fanaticism which manifested itself in the destruction of libraries, the burning of condemned books, the persecution of philosophers. Imprisonment, banishment, popular violence, threats of house-burning, fears of death,—to these were men exposed who cultivated the ancient learning under the rule of princes, who, actuated either by their own prejudices or by the desire of popular favor, used their influence in the interest of religious intolerance.

But, if true—Why would this be?

C. Islam’s Lawful & Prohibited: Halal & Haram

An intriguing book illustrates the subject of Islam’s lost creativity, titled The Lawful & The Prohibited In Islam, by Yusuf al-Qaradawi. A brief summary reveals Islam generally only allows activity in areas already blessed by Allah under Shari’ah law. But such rules insulates society from innovation. In Islam, only prescriptively allowed activities are sanctioned. Contra, in the West, anything not forbidden is generally allowed. On this, the great orientalist Joseph Schacht claims Islam is a legalistic religion:

It has often been said that Islamic law represents the core and kernel of Islam itself and, certainly, religious law is incomparably more important in the religion of Islam than theology.

The preceding attests to the lack of the concept of liberty, freedom or human rights in Islam. One’s liberties are tied to one’s acceptance of Allah. But even for Muslims, human or civil rights are a fiction. Such notions were never contemplated in the Quran. The God of Islam is both unknowable and utterly separate from mankind, by design. Therefore, the worst sin is shirk, associating anything created with Allah. And since human freedom itself is opposed by the unknowable Allah, everything in Islam resists liberty.

III. Communism’s Secular Heresy

Secular humanism offers as its most characteristic aspect—monomania. “Monomania” is defined as: “an inordinate or obsessive zeal for or interest in a single thing, idea, subject, or the like.” Marxism is preoccupied with power over any ideals. In fact, no other truth exists for the dedicated revolutionary. According to P.H. Vigor in A Guide To Marxism, morality is an illusion to a Marxist, saying:

For ethics or morality, the fundamental point for a Marxist is that there is no such thing as an absolute Right and Wrong, being relative for a Marxist. A thing wrong at one time, and in one set of circumstances, will be right in another. It is therefore simply not possible to settle an argument with them by reference to ethical principles—by saying, for instance, that the consequence of a particular policy would be murder, and you cannot commit murder. From a Marxist standpoint, you can—in certain circumstances.

So modern leftism is characterized by a mono-maniacal view of power, rights, and authority. But where does this spirit of absolutist religion come from? We must trace the instinct for totalitarian religious humanism to a 12th century Italian monk named Joachim of Flora who created a humanistic interpretation of the Bible and history that socialism adapted as a template. This is why socialism and Marxism have a highly religious flavor.

A. Modern Humanistic Tyranny: Socialism & Marxism

The essence of Marxism is sheer secularism. All human traditions and revealed religions are dismissed as meritless. Everything is based upon humanistic theories. Historian Richard Pipes defines communism as:

Full social equality calling for dissolution of the individual in the community. As social & economic inequalities derive primarily from inequalities of possession, communism desires abolition of private property.

As the individual dissolves into the community, his or her individual rights vanish. So no rights of free press or speech existed in communist nations. No dissent was tolerated. Most pointedly, religion was illegal in communist countries, as described by Rev. Richard Wurmbrand in Tortured For Christ. Communism proposes a total theory of life so no outside ideas are even theoretically acceptable. There existed no public forum for the discussion of dissenting opinions.

Conclusion: Trinity or Radical Monotheism—Human Liberty Hangs in Ballance

In Islam, all decisions are driven by theology, including politics. There is no room for human liberty, given God is unknowable, and only the Qu’ran and Shari’ah law offer direction. In Marxism, extermination of religion caused a reverse effect. Politics mastered all religious issues. Again all human choices are predetermined because, as in Islam, all decisions are forecast via secular holy writ. Both are mirror images of the same coin. Any world view which aggressively claims to uniquely and exclusively map all of reality cannot afford to brook dissent.

But only in a theologically diverse, trinity-respecting society where mystery is accepted, and human advancement encouraged are differences tolerated. Here, liberties are mandated as mankind is respected as created in the image of God, with potential for freewill choice, creativity, rights of conscience, and avenues to express minority opinion.

—–

Kelly O’Connell hosts American Anthem on CFP Radio Sundays at 4 pm (EST).

Kelly O’Connell is an author and attorney. He was born on the West Coast, raised in Las Vegas, and matriculated from the University of Oregon. After laboring for the Reformed Church in Galway, Ireland, he returned to America and attended law school in Virginia, where he earned a JD and a Master’s degree in Government. He spent a stint working as a researcher and writer of academic articles at a Miami law school, focusing on ancient law and society. He has also been employed as a university Speech & Debate professor. He then returned West and worked as an assistant district attorney. Kelly is now is a private practitioner with a small law practice in New Mexico. Kelly is now host of a daily, Monday to Friday talk show at AM KOBE called AM Las Cruces w/Kelly O’Connell

Kelly can be reached at:hibernian1@gmail.com

Rethinking Trinitarian Theology: Disputed Questions And Contemporary Issues in Trinitarian Theology
publisher: T&T Clark Int’l, published: 2012-03-01
ASIN: 0567225461
EAN: 9780567225467
sales rank: 1838684
price: $37.56 (new), $29.00 (used)

A collection of essays from leading theologians outlining current state of theological thought on the trinity.

Image by The Library of Congress via Flickr

Those who follow this blog know of my appreciation of the Doctrine of the Trinity as central to the teachings of the Christian faith.  Trinitarian theology is more than simply an affirmation of a mystery (God is one in Three and Three in One).  It’s more than simply something we BELIEVE.  It is the well-spring from which we understand everything about God.

It is also a necessary corrective to the highly philosophical god of western thought (a god describe as “omnipotent” or “omnipresent” rather than with more intimate (and theologically accurate) terms like FATHER, SON, AND HELPER (Holy Spirit).

Over the next few weeks I am going to be searching the web to find links, articles, videos, audios, etc. that discuss the various facets of “trinitarian theology.”

I am not seeking to present this in any sort of “systematic” fashion.

Let’s start with a series of videos from Grace Life Communion by Baxter Kruger.

You’ll also find some suggested readings in these posts.

The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything
by: Fred Sanders
publisher: Crossway Books, published: 2010-08-04
ASIN: 1433513153
EAN: 9781433513152
sales rank: 92297
price: $10.94 (new), $10.94 (used)

The doctrine of the Trinity is widely taught and believed by evangelicals, but rarely is it fully understood or celebrated. Systematic theologian Fred Sanders, in The Deep Things of God, shows why we ought to embrace the doctrine of the Trinity wholeheartedly and without reserve, as a central concern of evangelical theology.

Sanders demonstrates, with passion and conviction, that the doctrine of the Trinity is grounded in the gospel itself. Written accessibly, The Deep Things of God examines the centrality of the Trinity in our salvation and the Trinity’s presence in the reading of the Bible and prayer. Readers will understand that a robust doctrine of the Trinity has massive implications for their lives. Indeed, recognizing the work of the Trinity in the gospel changes everything, restoring depth to prayer, worship, Bible study, missions, tradition, and our understanding of Christianity’s fundamental doctrines.

Are you aware of your stress?

Are you aware WHAT stresses you?

To all of you who feel worried, stressed, or anxious – know this:  there is no magic fix.  There is no pill, joke, or anecdotal story that can turn off the “wrry machine.”

Jesus is the “Good Shepherd,” however, and promises to be with us and to love us through all times of anxiety, stress, and worry.

I offer gratitude to Dr. Bill Self for a piece he wrote that inspired some of the content, as well as the title for this sermon.  Click this hyperlink NOW to watch “Objects in the Mirror May Be Closer than they Appear.”  The text for this sermon is John10:11-15

The second Sunday of Easter at the Patterson Avenue Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia features a message titled:  “Sarcastic Laughter.”

The primary text is John 20:19-31 -(with the story of Thomas’ encounter with Jesus a week after the resurrection.  We also looked at the story of Abraham and Sarach and the unbelievable promise that they, late in life (both nearly 100 years old) would give birth to a child.  Both passages indicate a bit of sarcastic laughter.

Sometimes the promises of God and invitation to faith are so incredible, so astonishing, that the only logical initial reaction is an almost bitter, sarcastic laughter.

The response to the sarcastic laughter is a question:  “Is anything impossible for God.”

It is important to give serious thought to this question.  A quick, pietistic, thoughtless response is not appropirate.  Instead, we need to give it serious consideration to the question.  How we answer will influence how we see the world – and how we will live in it.  Will we live with courageous faith, or fear and trembling?

The sermon “Sarcastic Laughter” can be viewed right now when you click this link.

Let me know what you think!

Oh, you’ll notice an interesting site…You’ll see me wearing a shirt with the words:  “I am with Bubba!”  Bubba is a nickname (duh) for Brian Snead Jr., who is running for “Man of the Year” and raising money for Lymphoma and Luekemia.  I wasn’t the only one wearing the shirt.  About ten folks had theirs on as well.  This is an incredible cause – and “Bubba” is a incredible guy.

Some folks thought I was talking about their kidneys! LOL

You can watch the sermon when you click this hyperlink now.

One line from the sermon that sort of sets theme is as follows:

“Easter is about more than just life beyond the grave. It is about life beyond our faults, failure, foibles, & follies!”

The sermon is a little less than 15 minutes long. Please watch, enjoy, and share any comments.

Happy Easter!

—-

Oh, during the Lenten season and into Easter, I read a book by Will Willimon.

“Preachers dread the arrival of Easter, because these holy days bring the daunting task of finding new ways to tell the old stories everyone’s heard so many times before. But what if it were only we preachers who are bored with these stories?” asks Will Willimon.

What if people keep showing up at Easter because the story of God’s victory over death continues to hold power for them?

What if the point were not to capitulate to the culture’s insatiable appetite for novelty, but to tell the old stories faithfully, trusting in the power of the Spirit to make the text, the congregation, and yes, even the preacher come alive again in the preaching event?

With Willimon’s Undone by Easter pastors can face the prospect of preaching their next Easter sermon with joy and confidence rather than worry about finding something to say.

This book was a great help. If you preach – get this book. If you know somebody who preaches, get it for them as a gift.

Undone by Easter: Keeping Preaching Fresh by: William H. Willimon publisher: Abingdon Press, published: 2009-10-01 ASIN: B0045U9WGO sales rank: 92750

Epic Fail – John 18:25-40

Dr. Bill Nieporte

When my 21 year old daughter comes home from college, she and our 16 year old son have some very interesting conversations.  Frankly, most of the time, neither my wife nor I have any idea what they are talking about.

We listen, usually from the front seat of the car, as they chat about movies, comic books, or the most recent video game to hit the market.  Occasionally one of them will reference something that did not turn out as they would have liked or expected, and other will respond with a simple two-word critique:

“Epic Fail.”

I know what the word “fail” means, so I think I am same in assuming that an “epic fail” is much worse.  Still, not wanting to take anything for granted, I once asked, “What does “epic fail” mean?”

“Look it up on Google!” was the reply.

Fortunately I am not from a place so far back in the dark ages that I am unfamiliar with “Google.” So one day I typed the phrase “Epic Fail” into the “Google” search engine and was taken to the “urban dictionary” which offered me several definitions.

“Epic fail” means…

…the highest form of failure known to humanity.

OR…a mistake of such monumental proportions that it requires its own term in order to successfully point out the unfathomable shortcomings of an individual or group.

OR…the complete and total failure when success should have been reasonably easy to attain.

“Epic fail!”  I thought about these words again as I began preparing my portion of today’s homily.

The events of Good Friday were an “Epic fail.”  You might bristle at the thought.  You may think I am being sacrilegious.  You may be tempted to corner me after the service and challenge the whole idea of what I am saying, but I am going to stick with my point.

Good Friday was “epic fail.”

Think about how the story of Jesus all started.  Let’s just focus on the words of the Fourth Gospel.

The author writes about the work of the Christ.

“In the beginning was the WORD, and the WORD was with God, and the WORD was God.”

“As many as received him, to them he gave the power to become sons and daughters of God.”

“The WORD became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

“Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

These words describe aim of Christ’s mission.  Then the Four Gospel illustrates Christ’s work with some pretty incredible narratives.  There is…

…the Miracle as Cana;

…the Cleansing of the Temple;

…the Story about Nicodemus and the New Birth;

…Jesus Crossing Borders to Bless Samaritans.

As we continue our reading we hear all about…

… the Healing Miracles;

…the feeding of the Thousands;

…the Teaching and Preaching of Jesus;

…the Offering of Grace and Mercy to Sinners;

…Jesus Identification as the Good Shepherd.

I could go on and on, but you get the point.  On every level and at every turn there is such hope, such potential, such promise.  We can’t help but expect that something stupendous, astonishing, and fantastic is about to happen.

Then we turn the page to the reading for today and all we can say is: “Epic Fail.”  Look at what happens in the few vignettes that we have read thus far in worship today.

Judas Betrays Jesus

The Roman Cohort Takes Jesus Into Custody

Jesus Is Questioned By The Top Religious Officials.

His Friend Peter Rejects Knowing Anything About Jesus

Jesus Taken Before Pilate

Jesus Is Beaten And Abused

When you consider that we are just getting started with the story of Jesus’ passion, you can’t help but bow you head in sorrow and think:  “Epic Fail.”

In our lives there is a great deal of failure and futility.  We understand what that is all about.  But this is NOT you and I, this is the “Word become flesh.” This is Jesus, the Christ, the light of the world, the Lamb of God, the Savior and Messiah.  When failure happens to this one, it is failure at a whole different level.

It becomes: “Epic Fail.”

We can try to rationalize it; make excuses for it; or pretend it is not really what it is.  We can try to read it all in the light of events yet to come, but none of that will quite do the trick, will it?

All twelve hung their heads in shame.  It was the last game of the season for my son’s “little league” baseball team.  He was about eight years old.

These boys had experienced a losing season – they had not won a single game.  In this final game of the year they had got closer than ever before.  Everyone played to their highest ability.  For the first time in my son’s little league career, he had a base hit and scored a run.  Everyone on the team played well – but it wasn’t enough.

Coach Scott told the boys how proud he was of their effort.  He told them they had played hard, grown as a team, learned a lot, and improved every game.  He was giving them the proverbial “moral victory” speech.

Then he asked them a question that had been rhetorical all season long.  He asked, “Now what’s the most important thing when we come out to play baseball?”  All season it have been a rhetorical question he answered himself.

“What the most important thing when playing baseball?” he would ask.

“To have fun!” he would say, in response to his own question.

On this day the question was not rhetorical.  He waited for the team to respond – and that was a big mistake.

“What is the most important thing when we come out here to play baseball?” he asked.

They were silent, waiting for the mantra to be completed.

“Come on, fellows,” he said.  “You’ve heard this question before.  What is the most important thing when we come out here to play baseball?”

This time several of them, including his son, replied.

“What is the most important thing when we come out here to play baseball?”

“Winning!” they said.

The moral victory argument does not trump “Epic fail.”

Vince Lombardi once said, “Show me a guy who really believes all that stuff about failure not really being failure and I will show you someone who has played too long without a helmet.”

“Epic Fail!”

I remember visiting a man in my last church shortly after his wife had died.  She’d had along, drawn out battle with cancer.  He met me at the door and said, “Pastor, please do not tell me how she is no longer suffering.  Do not tell me she is in a better place. Today all I know is that she is gone and I will never see her again.”

No religious mumbo-jumbo could take away the pain.  His wife was gone and this was the only reality he could accept – and it wasn’t in his mind a good thing.

My wife can tell you how that feels.  Her sister was her best friend in the world.  A car crash took her life tragically – an error in driving that was easily avoidable if the man in the truck had not been so careless…so reckless.

At the family visitation, somebody said:  “We don’t know why God does the things He does!”

My wife replied, “It wasn’t God.  It was the (expletive deleted) who was driving that truck.”

We can’t gloss over “epic fail” can we?  No amount of pretend can make it any less than what it is.  No pabulum of pious rhetoric can make a tragedy any less of a tragedy.

It is “Epic Fail!”

That’s what it was.

We come to this day expecting more.  We come believing that success should have been reasonably easy to attain.  Yet what we have is complete and total failure.  Every step leads us further and further down the path into what can only be described as “Epic fail”…

… the highest form of failure known to men and women.

What makes this day GOOD is that it shows us that God understands and experiences even the darkest moments of our human experience.  It helps us appreciate the fact that God understands and knows what it means to experience brokenness, pain, sorrow and suffering.

But that doesn’t make us feel better.

We are approaching Golgotha, the place of the skull, where a cross is waiting for the man we call Jesus.

He is the one we and the angels have sung songs about…songs of hope, majesty, and joy.

He is the one determine to deliver the world from the ravages of war.

He is the one who promise to establish justice and mercy.

He is the one the prophets said would teach us how to turned swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks.

But now we come up to the cross and all we can do is hang our head in sorrow and shame, saying:  “Epic Fail.”

It would be a mockery to say anything that sound like “moral victory.” It would be a charade to try and sooth the shock and awe of the by speaking about it with any sort of talk that diminishes what it really is.

This is defeat and despair.

This is darkness and death.

This is “Epic Fail.”

William Willimon once said, “Who would blame God if now, at last, in this death, if God should desert us and leave us to our own devices?  Who would accuse God, if at this (EPIC) failure, God should go?”

Writing Checks and Dividing Furniture – John 19:1-25a

Dr. Betty Pugh Mills

A few months after my separation, I was in N. Virginia at a football game where my brother was coaching. I had met a group of his loyal fans, some guys that he had known since childhood, they are like a set of groupies that followed him around, and loyalty was definitely part of their relationship to my brother. We gathered at the entry gate and then moved to sit up in the stadium, or rather the bleachers as we were the visiting team.  As we sat and watched, I wondered how many of them knew that my husband and I had separated. It didn’t take long for me to figure out that they all knew, giving me those common looks of sorrow, embarrassment, and then condolences. I was prepared for the looks, but not the conversation that I ended up having with one of them.  One of my brother’s friends, who was sitting to my left said that he was sorry that this was happening to me.  I nodded and slightly smiled, as I sensed his words being of sincerity and concern. Here I was at 36 years of age and he had known me since I was a child, so it was okay for him to be so forthright. But then he said, you know, Betty, sometimes it’s just about writing checks and dividing up furniture, nothing more. I looked at him, and said, ‘Yeah, I guess on one level that is true.” And I sat for the rest of the game wondering if I would ever be able to think about my failed marriage as the mere writing of checks and dividing of furniture. I actually yearned for the day when it would feel like just the writing of checks and the dividing up furniture.

When horrible things happen, maybe we are part of them happening, maybe we are innocent bystanders, maybe we are a little of both, finding a place to move to that takes away the rawness and tender underbelly of our human experience can be a challenge. When we see ourselves at our worst, or we see others and we can’t believe that people can actually do this kind of thing to one another, we want to find a way to understand it, for some neutrality, for the emotions and the feelings that are flailing around to be caught and tamed and controlled so that we can look like we are making sense of the horrible randomness of the world.

Some of us hate the randomness so much so that we even need to put all the horrible, hateful things that people do to one another at the feet of God and say, “Surely, God has a plan in this.” Most definitely Jesus knew that on the third day everything would work out for the best, that the pain and humiliation, the betrayal and denial, that his closest, dearest friends and companions evidenced over and over again, would somehow all make sense, because it was a part of God’s master plan. And all we need to do when things get really bad, when the pain becomes unbearable, when defeat is greater than we ever imagined, with right is not going to win, when hate is greater than love, is just believe that God has a plan, there is a purpose in all of this, and we need to believe in it. Isn’t that the nature of faith, to trust in the truth and reality of that which we cannot see?

I’ve always wanted to have that kind of faith, that could look at a 20 car pile up on the interstate, a child born with leukemia, a woman beaten by her own husband over years of marriage, the nameless, faceless, victims of tsunamis, tornadoes, hurricanes, and floods around the globe, and in all of this, they had the kind of faith that could see the hand of God, they had the kind of faith that could say, “God has a plan, we just can’t see it right now, it is all going to work out for the best.” And they are not being publicly pious, they really do believe it, even with everything they see, they really do believe that God is in control, that God is in his heaven and all is right with the world, or will at least be right one day. I don’t doubt their sincerity one bit, as I said, I wish I could be like this, like them. For I would worry less, I’d sleep better, I’d trust the world more, I’d have less fear, I would just be a better, more faithful person, people would admire me more if I could believe. I wish I could see God’s hand moving all the time, in every situation, small and large. I wish I could have no doubt that God was calling the shots and that even when things look their darkest, that it really is darkest before the dawn. I wish all the clichés worked for me and that I could just move to a place of peace and trust even in the face of the worst of human free will, the deliberate, thoughtful, planned and executed moments where Satan rubs his little grubby hands together and thinks to himself, “I have another one.” Yes, the one who yelled, “crucified him,” and the one who put the nails through his flesh and the one who mocked him and the one who took his clothes and said, hey, “its just a moment for writing checks and dividing furniture, casting lots and taking your half.”

But Satan also has me, for I am not sure that anything good can come out of Nazareth this day. I am not sure of anything, most of all, that the master plan of God is being executed as Jesus dies the death of a capital crime criminal. How can this much human evil and suffering be part of the design of a loving, compassionate God? I need to move from this place of darkness, the deep questions that confound me. I want to believe because I cannot bear to not believe in something good coming out of all of this. I wonder if this is how all those people, all those people that I want to be like, all those people who find the faith to believe in God’s plan, in God’s goodness, in God. I wonder if this is how it works?

Epic Fail Dialogue Mix – Dr. Bill Nieporte’s comments are regular type-font; Dr. Belly Pugh Mills comments are in BOLD

One of the young children in my church had a conversation with my daughter a few weeks ago.  He asked her if I (as pastor) was the owner of our church.  My daughter said, “No, the church belongs to God.  My dad is the preacher at the church.”  He responded, “What does a preacher do?  Does he KILL people?”

It might seem like an odd question, but I think I know why he asked it.  I have conducted 15 funerals in the last several months.  In addition, my father-in-law died in that time frame.  So death has been an ongoing topic of conversation in our congregation over the last several months.

But, that’s our job. People die all the time. It’s the vow we take to bury them. To be there, even if no one else is there except you or me, the deceased, and the funeral director. It’s the calling of our profession.

Death is the backdrop of this day.   The Friday of Holy Week is about death.

But Jesus’ death was different. Jesus’ death was special, pre-ordained, part of the master’s plan. The person of faith is even comforted by Jesus’ death as it was with purpose and meaning for the entire world, so we don’t need to be so sad and morose. Jesus’ death was salvific!

When my son was about seven years old, we had a conversation after a funeral for a seven year old boy and his father who were killed in a car crash.

“Daddy, am I going to die, too?” he asked.

Now how do you answer a question like that to a seven year boy old without scaring the hell out of him?

Of course, the answer is yes.  My son is going to die.

He just turned sixteen a couple weeks ago and is learning to drive in the City of Richmond.  There are moments when I think his departure may be very close at hand.

But we all will get to go to heaven, so don’t worry and don’t let him worry about this. It’s going to be okay in the end, cause, well, like the song says, “I’ll fly away, Oh glory. I’ll fly away. When I die, Hallelujah, by and by, I’ll fly away!”

But if it is not car crash that takes him – it will be cancer, or heart attack, or earthquake, or tsunami, or maybe, if he is lucky, extreme old age.

Have you been to a nursing home recently? I’m not sure all those folks over there with no one visiting; no one remembering are feeling so lucky. But ours is not to question God, right. There has got to be a plan for all of this in the end.

Here’s the thing:  WE ARE ALL DYING.  From the moment of our conception, we begin a journey toward death.  Even Jesus, the one we call the Son of God, ultimately bleed out and died.  Death is the undeniable, unavoidable reality of our existence.  From the story of our human origins until the reality of this moment, every person who has ever been born HAS or WILL die.

So, what’s the use in living?

Well, that’s not a very faithful way to look at the whole thing, a little morbid if you ask me. We are God’s people, the sheep of his pasture, and it’s going to all work out okay, so quit scaring them. Look, they’ve come to worship this day, not a lot of folk show up on Good Friday, so we’ve gotten tell them what’s good about it.

Cancer is tragic.  So is a heart attack or a car crash.  Even death by extreme old is tragic.

But there are worse ways to die.  There are the deaths that come from injustice, poverty, war, and violence – from our inhumanity toward one another.  These kinds of death could be completely avoided if we treated one another with common decency and kindness.

My grandmother was a Jewish immigrant to the United States who came with her sisters to avoid Nazi oppression.

She and my aunts would tell me these stories.

The Nazi’s would line up Jews and march them into gas chambers or incinerators where they would be exterminated in mass.

What they would do beforehand, however, was insidiously evil.  The Jews would be gathered in waiting areas where a Nazi leader would make announcements:

“We need doctors and nurses.  If you have any experience in the medical profession, please line up here.”

“We need manual laborers to work on the rail system.  Line up here.”

“We need people in food services.  Line up here.”

Pretty soon, everyone was in a line.  Next they would be taken to a room where they were told they could bathe and get a fresh set of clothing.  The Jews followed willingly, given hope by the Nazis that their specific skill set had redeemed their lives.

It was all a despicable ploy – a method of crowd control.  Rather than a place to be cleaned and clothed, they were marched into gas chamber or incinerators.  They were given hope as they were marched to their death.

How can people do that sort of thing to one another?

You see it all the time, but we have to believe that God wins in the end no matter how horrible it looks right now, no matter how horrendous our humanity can be, no matter how horrific our choices. Love is stronger than death, I’m pretty sure that’s in the Bible somewhere. And we’ve got to believe this even when we stare in the face of such evil, over and over and over again. We can’t not believe that God is going to be victorious! How could we sleep at night?

I guess I could go on and on illustrating this problem.  There are so many wars, so much injustice, so much crime and violence, so much rape and abuse, so many expressions of our inhumanity toward one another.

This day is about death – but it is not just about death.  It is about violent and unjustified death.

This is a day that reminds us of the evil things we think about one another and do to one another.

But it’s not just that we lash out at each other through injustice, war, violence, and crime.  On this Friday we are reminded that the human race ever lashed out even at the one called Messiah, Savior, the Son of God.  It makes me wonder why God would want anything to do with us.

It makes we wonder too, but I have to have the faith, and I have to feel that others have the faith, that we all have hope against all hopelessness that God still thinks that we are worth it and that we can know God and be in God and live as God’s people. Even today, when we remember the most perfect storm, when evils of deliberate commission and allowances induced by apathy and the sin of omission converge to remind us what we are all capable of in the end.  I just have to believe that God is not done with us yet. Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy. I just have to believe it is true.

The sermon for March 25, 2012 at Patterson Avenue Baptist was based on John 12:20-33 – it was titled:  “Disturbing Good News”

In the sermon I share some biblical good news – our lives and churches have the power and ability to CHANGE THE WORLD

That’s our hunger, our longing, our desire – God places that inside out spiritual DNA.  When you know the Father, experience the grace of God in Jesus, and know the indwelling of the Holy Spirit – you will want to make a difference, impact your community, and express love for all people (JUST LIKE GOD DOES).

So, what’s so disturbing about this sermon?  To change the world, we have to die.

Oh, not in the sense of the death that flesh is heir to.

We’ll have to die to our religion and become alive to a passionate relationship with Jesus.

This sermon got a lot of comments from the crowd assembled at Patterson Avenue Baptist.  It was a challenging word.  It was a disturbing message.

This sermon has some really “Disturbing Good News.”  You can watch to this sermon when you click this hyperlink now.

Sermon

The prize possession in my extensive library are the books written by (or containing the edited work of) Martin Luther King, Jr.

This is a new book for me – just a $1.99 for my kindle – well worth a couple bucs if you want to explore the impact of the spoken word on society.  The link below will take you to a paper version – on sale (used copies even cheaper) – but if you have a kindle (or a kindle reader for your pc) get that copy – just $1.99.

The preaching of this one simple pastor from a little Baptist church in Alabama dramatically turned the course of history in the United States, This is a terrific read.

The Preacher King: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Word that Moved America
by: Richard Lischer
publisher: Oxford University Press, USA, published: 1997-02-06
ASIN: 019511132X
EAN: 9780195111323
sales rank: 47071
price: $12.77 (new), $4.74 (used)

Today it seems extraordinary that a nation the size of the United States could have been so profoundly affected by the minister of a little Baptist church in Montgomery, Alabama. But at a turning point in American history, Martin Luther King, Jr., had an incalculable effect on the fabric of daily life and the laws of the nation. As no other preacher in living memory and no politician since Lincoln, he transposed the themes of love, suffering, deliverance, and justice from the sacred shelter of the pulpit into the arena of public policy. He was the last great religious reformer in America. How the man who always saw himself as “fundamentally a clergyman, a Baptist preacher” crafted his strategic vision and moved a nation to renewal is the subject of this remarkable new book.

The Preacher King investigates Martin Luther King Jr.’s, religious development from a precocious “PK” (“preacher’s kid”) in segregated Atlanta to the most influential American preacher and orator of the twentieth century. To give the most accurate and intimate portrait possible, author Richard Lischer draws almost exclusively on King’s unpublished sermons and speeches, as well as tape recordings, personal interviews, and even police surveillance reports. In King’s published works, Lischer shows, King and his editors modified and polished his sermons in order to reach as wide an audience as possible. By returning to the raw sources, Lischer recaptures King’s real, African-American, preaching voice and, consequently, something of the real King himself. He shows how as the son, the grandson, and the great-grandson of preachers, King early on absorbed the poetic cadences, the traditions, and the power of the pulpit. He traces King’s coming of age from his rebellious teenage years (King once wrote that at thirteen he shocked his Sunday School class by “denying the bodily resurrection of Jesus”) to his arrival in Montgomery, where he took on the role of “Brother Pastor” to his flock during the year of ministry before he burst into national prominence. Lischer shows that King was as profoundly influenced by his fellow African-American preachers as he was by Gandhi and the philosophers, and tracks King’s themes of brotherhood and justice from the set pieces of his weekly sermons to his electrifying mass meeting speeches, demonstrations, and civil addresses. Lischer also reveals a later phase of King’s development that few of his biographers or critics have addressed: the prophetic rage with which he condemned American religious and political hypocrisy. During the last three years of his life, Lischer shows, King accused his country of genocide, warned of long hot summers in the ghettos, and called for a radical redistribution of wealth.

More than any other book, The Preacher King captures the crucial aspect of the identity of Martin Luther King, Jr. Human, complex, and passionate, here is a preacher who never gave up trying to shape a congregation of people that would be capable of redeeming the moral and political character of the nation.

King

The sermon for March 11, 2012 is based on jOHN 2:11-33 – THE STORY OF JESUS CLEANSING THE TEMPLE.

I have heard this story used to attack fund-raising efforts from youth, bake sales by children – when these things take place in the church.

reveals that Jesus had something else in mind.  He was overturning the exclusive nature of religion and revealing the grace of God.

You can watch now when you CLICK THIS LINK.

Oh, and you’ll get a couple minutes to listen to Tim Pierce on the piano who was playing just before I preached.  Tim’s a mighty talented musician.

So, the sermon video us uploaded and ready to be listened too.  Click that link above now to hear and watch the sermon video.

Sermon