TURN ON YOUR LIGHT

(This is an abridged version of the sermon preached at Epworth Chapel, Baltimore on 6/24/12)

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16)


These are days in which we are challenged to experience light and joy and hope in our lives. The days in which we live - in many ways - are filled with darkness.

We experience the darkness of political unrest, social disintegration, and economic uncertainty - not to mention spiritual demise. Crime and violence pervades many of our communities and streets – and terror and war have permeated our global conscience.

If you know like I know – the darkness of the world has a way of dimming our view of reality, and making it difficult to see the possibility of light.

I have the occasion of traveling through the tunnels of Baltimore several times a week. On entering the tunnels, most of what is experienced is darkness – the end of the tunnel cannot be seen at the beginning, and thus there is not much light. It is at the point when approaching the end of the tunnel, when there is a glimpse of light, that I always experience a sense of hope – a sense that the darkness is about to be over.

On a personal and existential level, all of us have experienced such darkness. Personal encounters with darkness can lead many people into depression and despair. This is what John of the Cross was alluding to when he talked about the “dark night of the soul.” David talked about the “valley of the shadow of death.”

Life’s circumstances – what philosopher Howard Thurman often called the vicissitudes of life – the various ups and downs that confront us – have a way of sapping our joy – and depleting our hope.

One of the most important things that we need to realize about darkness is that darkness exists for a season – it does not last forever. And in that season – in that night – regardless how long it might last – there are degrees of darkness. As darkness continues – it prepares itself for the coming of light.

In other words, it is always darkest just before daybreak. So this should help those of us who may find ourselves in the midst of our darkest, dimmest, most desperate predicament. It is always darkest just before the dawn. This is why the psalmist could declare as an affirmation of his faith that “weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”

In our scripture lesson we find Jesus offering a message of hope and encouragement to those who had gathered around him at the Sermon on the Mount. The Lord offers some words of enlightenment to those who needed a reminder of who he was, and thus who they were.

Jesus says, “You are the light of the world…” You are a city sitting high on a hill. Let your light so shine so that others may see Christ in you.”

In other words turn on your light.

To understand the Lord’s message here, we need to understand the condition of the world at the time of the coming of Christ.

Christ was born into a world filled with darkness and despair. The world that the Lord was born into was a world of political unrest, social decay, and religious turmoil – not too much unlike the conditions of our world today.

Amidst Roman occupation, Israel awaited a Savior to rescue them from their predicament. They were looking for a Savior to speak hope and promise into their dismal reality. They needed a Savior to offer light amidst their darkness and despair.

And in the midst of all this, Jesus says to them, and says to us, turn on your light.

Why do we need to turn on our lights? We need to turn on our lights because it is only light that is able to overcome darkness. And if light is placed in the proximity of darkness – light will always shine through.

When referring to the darkness of racial oppression and economic despair of his day, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.”

This should encourage us - whatever may be our lot in life. That if we dare to turn on our light – our light will overcome some darkness in our surroundings. If we dare to turn on our lights – the Lord will use us to make a difference in the world.

The good news is that each and every one of us has been given a light by God. And God did not pick and choose who would be given light. Notice that Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount was speaking to the crowd – he was speaking to everybody. And it’s good to know that in God’s kingdom, everybody has a light.

And Jesus said, “Turn on your light.” What’s your light? What light as God given you? Your God-given light is like nobody else’s. Somebody’s light might be singing in the choir… somebody’s might be preaching God’s word… and someday else’s might be teaching our children… while somebody else’s might be serving the needy.

Whatever it is – Jesus says turn it on…

If I can help somebody – as I pass along
If I can cheer somebody - with a word or a song
If I can show somebody – how they’re traveling wrong
Then my living will not be in vain…

A WORD FOR FATHERS

(This is an abridged version of the sermon preached at Eepworth Chapel, Baltimore on 6/17/12)

"My child, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves the one he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights." (Proverbs 3:11-12)

The images that can be conjured from the Proverbs text are stark and vivid as we remember growing up. We might hear in the text, the authoritative yet assuring voice of a father or father- figure saying in essence, “I’m applying this discipline for your own good, because “I love you” – “I hate to do this, but it is for your own good.” In the midst of being corrected and disciplined in our youth, we might picture – in the text - the hurt, anger, embarrassment, and disappointment that we experience of there being a need for correction by our father. We might even imagine – in the text - the warmth of assurance, confidence, and comfort in an unbroken relationship even amidst admonition and correction.

On this Father’s Day, we take time to celebrate and honor the unique contributions that fathers make to the development and well-being of their children. We also remember that even if we have not had the benefit of a relationship with our biological father, we have all been blessed at some point by men – father figures - who have stood in the breach and helped to lead families, teach the young, and prayerfully build a better future for us.

For those of us who are blessed by God to be fathers, Father’s Day should serve as our annual reminder of the divine, God-given responsibilities we have in helping to raise our children, helping to make provision for our household, and leading by example.
On this Father’s Day, we take time to recognize and acknowledge the need for fathers, and where necessary father-figures, to continue to step up and help show the way for our children. We remember the plethora of boys and girls who are being raised today without positive father-figures and male role models in their lives.

We remember those like the late Troy Anthony Davis who in September 2011 was executed in Georgia. In as much as his life became the mantra of an international movement in resistance to what many believe was the unjust state-sanctioned murder of a young man through capital punishment, Troy Davis was a fatherless child. Part of his story is the story too often repeated ad-infinitum regarding African-American males today. Troy Davis, like 75% of incarcerated African-American males, grew up without a father in his home. According to several biographical sources, Troy Davis’s father left the home when Troy was three years old.

Decreased wealth and family income pose problems for too many black and brown children with the absence of the father’s income. Having been blessed to grow up with my father living at home with me, I believe that my father’s presence was a key factor in enabling me to avoid the pitfalls that so often create a feeder community for the multi-billion-dollar prison industrial complex, and me becoming victim, as an inner city youth, to what Dr. Michelle Alexander calls the New Jim Crow. This is not to say that Troy Davis’s family failed to properly rear him simply because of economic disparity and dysfunction, but the statistical data related to this familial dynamic is significant – and is seen in the lack of educational achievement, abject unemployment and underemployment, and widening gaps between the richer and poorer across society.

Further, there is one glaring contradictory, contrasting reality that identifies facilities of mass incarceration of young black and brown persons as “Correctional facilities.” Unlike the correction of a loving father who has a vested interest in his son or daughter’s well-being, the correctional system that disproportionately houses citizens of African and Hispanic descent serves today – rather than rehabilitating black and brown life – to stunt life and diminish human potential and possibility with egregious impunity and insatiability.

This form of so-call “correction” is far removed from that which Solomon refers to in Proverbs 3:11-12.

Solomon’s story is considered by many to be perplexing as it relates to many of life’s ironies and contradictions. While Solomon’s name means “peace” or “wholeness” reflective of the expression “Shalom,” significant aspects of Solomon’s life were anything but peaceful. His father, King David was a man of war. David violently took Solomon’s mother, Bathsheba, from her husband, Uriah. David ultimately had Uriah sent to the front line of the war to fight, and Uriah was killed.

The prophet Nathan tells David that “the sword will never leave your household” (2 Samuel 12:10). Solomon was a dysfunctional family, and this carried over to his adult life. He married at least 700 foreign women, and his loyalties and heart became so divided that the nation of Israel eventually was divided while he was their king.

In the midst of this, Solomon was also a man of great wisdom, and offers us wise words on this Father’s Day. In Proverbs chapter 3 verse 11, Solomon says, “My child, do not despise or reject the Lord’s discipline.” The self-existent, self-reliant, self-sufficient God reproves the one God loves. Solomon then tells his readers to not be weary of the Lord’s reproof, for it is like that of a father to a son whom he loves.

The fact of the matter is that our children today need both fathers and mothers.
Indeed, one of the greatest needs in this day and age for a young man (or woman) is a father. And fathers are called upon to walk the walk and talk the talk, not to just live by the mantra that so many seem to choose, “do as I say and not as I do.” In other words, fathers must show consistent character. Teaching a child involves being a godly example as much as anything else.

In the 2002 film Antwone Fisher, navy officer and psychiatrist Jerome Davenport gives guidance and correction, as a father figure, to help a young navy seaman face his past and move on with his life.

When the two meet, Antwone is a moody young man with a record of violence. As a result of his violent behavior, Antwone is ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment. Antwone meets with psychiatrist Dr. Jerome Davenport, and Davenport attempts to get him to open up about his family background. When Dr. Davenport attempts to question him about his parents, Antwone claims that he does not have parents and that he came from “under a rock.”

Antwone eventually gives in and explains his upbringing. He shares that his father was killed when Antwone was 2 months old. Antwone’s mother, Eva Fisher, went to jail, and when she got out she did not claim Antwone, leaving him very bitter. Eventually, Antwone found his family, and this brought the healing he had sought and echoes his dream of sitting at a feast surrounded by loving family members.

Indeed, all of our children need a father or someone like Dr. Davenport in their life. The good news is that God is the example for all fathers here on earth. From the youngest to the oldest among, we have a Spiritual Father who created all of us. God, our Spiritual Father and Creator intended for each of us to exist with a sense of purpose, dignity, and self-worth. Further, like a good biological father, God, our Spiritual Father looks out for, provides for us, protects us, and corrects us. The prophet Jeremiah says it in a way that is encouraging and instructive: “I know the plans I have for you, to prosper you, to give you a hope and a future...” (Jer. 29:11)

Ultimately, it’s good to know that God – our divine parent - who has created us, loves us.

Love divine all loves excelling…

If We Want to See the Change - We've Got to Be the Change!

GOOD FRUIT

(This is an abridged version of the sermon I preached at Epworth Chapel, Baltimore on 6/3/12)

Matthew 7:15-20

The older I get, the more nostalgic I become. I’m sure many of us, as we get older, become more apt to reminisce about the events of our past, and we remember those important people, places and things of our youth, and we realize how they impacted who we are today.

One of most important parts of my youth was the way my sister, brother and I spent our summers. We were raised mostly in the city – in Washington, DC - but each summer – until I was about thirteen years old, we would travel to Madison Heights, Virginia (just outside of Lynchburg, Virginia) to spend the summers with my grandparents.

There are many things that I remember about Madison Heights, Virginia and those summers. I remember our large extended family (all of our uncles, aunts and cousins, and those we thought were our cousins). I remember Rose Chapel Baptist Church - where we would go every Sunday for Sunday School and worship service (even though we were Methodists when we got back home to DC-we were always reminded that while we were in Virginia, we were Baptists).

I remember that the doors of my grandparents’ house were seldom – if ever - locked, and I remember that we would run and play outside without seeming ever to worry about anything or anybody.

I remember my grandmother, Dorothy Mae Parrish’s cooking, and I remember my grandfather’s large garden. He called it a garden, but – being a city boy - it seemed like a farm to me. Every summer, my grandfather, William Andrew would grow enough vegetables in his garden for all of his seven adult children and their families to have enough canned goods for the whole year to come – and then he would give away much of what was left over to other relatives, neighbors and friends.

I also remember that my grandparents had several fruit trees in their yard. One of the fruit trees was a large peach tree. I can remember – every summer - watching that peach tree, and waiting until the middle of summer when the peaches on the tree would be ready of picking and eating. Sometimes, we would pick the peaches, and eat them right off the tree – right at the tree. We didn’t think to wash them – we would just eat the peaches off the tree. It was good fruit.

I realize now that such good fruit did not just emerge instantaneously. The good fruit of that peach tree emerged within the context of a seed that had been planted many years before. It was a seed that had been planted in good, fertile soil - soil that had been watered by consistent rains over the years, which with the sunlight that beamed down on it, served to nourish and cultivate the seed, and help the seed grow into a tree over the years. As a result of all of this nourishment and cultivation – combined with the irrigation and aeration of the soil - the peach tree that eventually emerged that would bear good fruit.

One of the lessons that Jesus is trying to teach here in what has come to be known as the Sermon on the Mount is a lesson about good fruit. In the Sermon on the Mount, we find that the Lord addresses a number of specific issues about how those who would follow him should live their lives. In these teachings, the issue is not so much focused on “what” we believe, but on “how” we live out what we believe – how we live out our faith before God and one another. These are ethical teachings that relate to our relationships with God and with each other.

Here in Matthew 7, the admonition of the Lord is first to “beware of false prophets - those who come in sheep’s clothing but are really inwardly ravenous wolves.” Jesus says, "You will know them by their fruit." Then Jesus goes on to teach this lesson within the context of two types of fruit – good fruit and bad fruit.

The Lord here makes a clear distinction between these two types of fruit. He indicates that good fruit is born from a good tree; good fruit cannot be born from a bad tree. And bad fruit is born of bad trees.

The teachings of the Lord here have implications for us on both individual and communal levels. We are to take account of how fruitful we are in our faith journey. In other words, what kind of tree are we? And what kind of fruit are we bearing? Are we bearing good fruit or bad fruit?

If you’ve lived long enough, you know what bad fruit is like, and how different it is from good fruit. Thinking back on my grandfather’s peach tree, we knew as soon as we bit into a peach from the tree, whether it was good fruit or bad fruit.

Bad fruit is either overly ripe or not yet fully developed. Overly ripe and rotting fruit has lost its texture and its flavor has become distorted from what it would taste like if it were still good. And if it is underdeveloped, the fruit is hard and usually hasn’t developed the full measure of what it would taste like if were allowed to grow to maturity.

And another thing we know about fruit is that it’s difficult to discern whether it’s good or bad – by outward appearances alone - without biting into it. Fruit might look good on the outside, look like it’s perfectly ready to eat, but when you bite into it, you might discover that it is rotting or underdeveloped on the inside.

That’s how many people’s lives are. They may look good on the outside, seem to have everything in their lives in order – even seem to have a measure of spirituality and godliness and holiness in them – they may go to church occasionally (some even regularly), they may even sing in choirs or serve on church boards, or preach from pulpits, but on the inside – their fruitfulness has begun to rot away or it has not been fully developed. Jesus says, “You will know then by their fruit.”

And so what does good fruit look like for the Christian? The apostle Paul points out in Galatians 5 that good fruit is born of the Spirit. Paul says that the “fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, faithfulness, long-suffering, generosity, and self-control.” (Gal. 5:22-23)

In other words, these nine things are the marks of fruitfulness for Christians. What kinds of fruit are we bearing?

Good fruit is also born when we heed the words of the prophet Micah who said that the Lord requires that we "love kindness, do justice and walk humbly with God.” (Micah 6:8)

The good news is that as we bear good fruit in this life, when we meet Jesus, we will get our reward in heaven. Indeed on judgment day, Jesus will inspect our fruit, and if we have born good fruit in this life, he will say to us, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. Now I will make you ruler over many.”

WHEN THE SPIRIT COMES

(This is an abridged version of my Pentecost sermon preached Epworth Chapel, Baltimore on 5/27/12.)

Acts 2:1-21

On this Pentecost Sunday, we come to celebrate what is effectively the birthday of the church. Today, Christians all over the world – from various denominations – Catholics and protestants, Pentecostals and evangelicals, liberals and conservatives, traditionalists and those who are not so traditional - will gather together to worship as did the early Christians some 2000 years ago.

It is important to keep in mind that the early followers of Jesus – those who came to be known as Christians - were not an organized religious group. They were not an institution or an organization – they were considered to be a sect – a movement of people, first Jews and then gentiles who thought it not robbery to put their faith and trust in an unlettered, unknown, poor carpenter from Nazareth, named Jesus.

These early followers of Christ – these disciples - were a part of a movement, and as is the case with any movement, so it was with these early Christians that they were seeking to make sense of what was occurring in their lives as they had chosen to follow Jesus.

What was really happening in their lives as Jesus had come into the world some 33 years earlier, who had been declared as the one who God had sent as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophesy to save the world, who had gone about healing the sick and raising the dead, who had declared that his very purpose in life was to set the oppressed free and bring Good News to the poor, who had died a sinner’s death on an old rugged cross, who had been buried in a borrowed tomb, who had been raised from the grave three days later, and forty days after his resurrection from the dead, who had ascended into heaven leaving his believers to wonder what was next?

And here, ten days after the Lord’s ascension into heaven, and fifty days after his resurrection, we come to the day of Pentecost. And his believers then - and I’m sure many people today - wonder what’s next? What is the meaning of all that occurred in the life of Jesus, and how does it really apply to your life and my life, and how we should live today? What’s next?

And so, it is recorded in the second chapter of the Book of Acts that they gathered together in one place on the day of Pentecost. And the scripture says that suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

And in the midst of all that was occurring, Peter stood up with the other disciples and began to explain to the crowd what was going on. He said, “What you are witnessing is a fulfillment of Scripture as it was spoken by the prophet Joel:

‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams…
And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

And so what really happens when the Spirit comes upon the church and into our lives?

First, I believe we can learn something from the life and ministry of Jesus. We are told that at his baptism, the Holy Spirit (Spirit of God, Holy Ghost) appeared in the Lord’s life as the Spirit descended as a dove, and said, “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.” And Jesus spoke of this same Holy Spirit at the beginning of his public ministry, when he declared in Luke 4, the “the spirit of the Lord is upon me, because God has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, to set the oppressed free, to give sight to the blind and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

John Wesley, the founder of Methodism had an encounter with the Holy Spirit on May 24, 1738 in the British town of Aldersgate. He was at a church meeting where there was a reading on the Book of Romans when the Spirit touched him, and John Wesley said that his spirit was awakened, and he felt his heart strangely warmed. John Wesley went on to lead a movement to reform the nation and spread Scriptural holiness across the land. And John Wesley would go on to pray that the people of God would catch fire, so that others would come to see us burn!

And we find in Acts 2 at the story of Pentecost that several things happen when the Spirit comes upon the church and our lives.

1. Our language changes and ours becomes a language of faith.
2. Our behaviors change and ours become acts of faith - worship, prayer, fellowship and service.
3. Our relationships change - and we begin to see and love our neighbors as ourselves. The Word says that they held what they had in common and shared with their neighbors.
4. Ultimately, when the Spirit comes, the church grows.

In Acts, we are told that those in the early church lived out their faith through worshipping God, and teaching others the ways of God, and reaching out and sharing what they had, and the Spirit of the living God moved in the church, and the church grew daily!

O that the Spirit of God would set the church so on fire today, that others will want to come to se us burn…

LIFT HIM UP!

(This is an abridged version of my sermon preached at Epowrth Chapel, Baltimore on 5/20/12)

John 12:27-36

We live in a society where the focus seems to have become increasingly upon material things. The acquiring of more things – a certain materialism - has taken on a dangerous priority in the lives of many people. Thus, the worship of things, the worship of money – even the worship of houses and cars - has become perhaps the essence of our contemporary culture.

We experience this “syndrome of the more” – this priority on material things – in our constantly wanting and needing more. There seems to be this insatiable desire – this yearning for more things.

One of the marks of this “syndrome of the more” – in this post-modern, post-Christian, secular age, is the reality that God, in many instances, has become a second option in too many people’s lives.

God is often perceived as a God of comfort and convenience. God is there, not to be worshipped and served, but merely stored away until we need the Lord. God has taken second place in some of our lives. God plays “second fiddle” for some folk. And so, the church finds itself on the margins of many of our lives – on the outside looking in.

Lest you think I’m meddling and messing, a simple trip to the closest shopping mall, or drive around the neighborhood this Sunday morning would bear this out. There are more people at stores this morning, doing the shopping that they could have done all week long than there are in church. Some folk think it is more important to stay home and wash their cars, or clean their house, than it is to be in church worshipping and praising the very God who blessed them with their house and their car. God has taken second place in too many people’s lives.

And so, the church in this present day faces particular challenges as to how we will go about proclaiming who Jesus is. The church faces particular challenges as to how to proclaim with a renewed sense of holiness and boldness, what God has done … is doing … and is about to do in our lives.

Many of those who prognosticate as to the future of the church are engaged in the seemingly ongoing debate of what makes a church grow. What makes a church vital and vibrant? What ingredients are necessary to bring about transformation and renewal in our churches?

Well, I am persuaded that if there is any one thing that we are to be about, it is to engage in the business of “lifting Jesus up.” I believe the song-writer said it well –
“How to reach the masses, men of every birth … for an answer Jesus gave the key … I, if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men unto me…”

In John chapter 12, we find that Jesus was confronting his imminent death. The word was out. Many were out to get him. He knew that his days on earth were but a few. He knew that his time was short.

Here, in what was essentially the Lord’s last sermon, his last public discourse, Jesus needed to remind his followers that everything that God had sent him to do and to say was about glorifying the Father. In life and in death, the Lord’s work was about glorifying God.

Indeed, Jesus wanted his followers to know that even his death on the cross would be a part of God’s plan … that even as the Lord was lifted to his death, this would serve to glorify God. Jesus wanted us to know that in his in being lifted, God would be glorified.

"And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself."

Beloved, this is essentially our call to evangelism. We are called to lift him up. Both in season and out of season … we’re called to lift him up. When we’re happy and when we’re sad … we’re called to lift him up. When we’re broke and when we have money in the bank … it’s our responsibility to lift him up.

Why do we need to be reminded of our responsibility to lift Jesus up? It is the church’s tendency to create programs to meet every need. We have programs for evangelism and stewardship... programs for single and married persons… programs for elderly and youth. We have mass choirs, super mass choirs, gospel choirs, senior choirs, youth choirs, and inspirational choirs. We have senior ushers and junior ushers. We have programs for everybody. But wihh whatever else we may be involved, it is essentially our task to lift Jesus up.

Now to lift Jesus up may sound easy, but it is not always as easy as it appears. For to really lift him up means that a few things will have to occur in our lives and in our churches. It means that we will have to place God at the head and center of our lives. It means that Jesus will have to become the priority – the center-piece of our homes and our churches.

Lifting him up means that we may have to deny some things, and change some things, and move some people around and even out of our lives. It means that everything and everybody else will begin to take second place in our lives. We are called to lift him up.

I have realized that in order to live out the Great Commission and to become true disciples and effective evangelists for the Lord, we will first have to make a commitment in our hearts that we are going to lift him up. More of the Lord’s final words are found in Matthew 28:19:

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember I am with you always, to the end of the age."

In order to live out the Great Commission, in order to lift him up, we will need to remember three things. We need to be mindful that we have been called, chosen and commissioned by God to go and lift Jesus up.

And the good news is that knowing these three things will give us a sense of purpose and the impetus to go forth and lift him up.

The song-writer wrote it best: For the world is hungry… for the living bread… lift the Savior up for them to see… trust him and do not doubt the words that he said…I’ll draw all men unto me…

Lift him up!