December 23, 2012 The Advent Conspiracy: Love All

****The following is a draft of the message notes for Sunrise UMC on December 23, 2012****

 

Good morning saints of Sunrise! It is so good to be here on this 23rd day of December 2012! 

You know, if we had listened to all the hype and hysteria that has been floating around for the last several years, we shouldn't be here after all. I have seen a lot of Facebook posts about the end of the Mayan calendar, but I think my favorite was this one.  

 

Well, today is the last Sunday of Advent and coincidently the last day of our Advent Conspiracy campaign. This endeavor has truly been heart-warming and soul-enriching as we looked to reclaim the real spirit of Advent and Christmas. First off, we redefined the word "conspire" to be something other than despicable as we used in our context this definition:

to work or act together towards the same result or goal.

  

This is what we have done over this season of Advent. We conspired or worked together towards the same goal; that being to make this Christmas even more special as it changes the world.

The way that we are making this happen is by conspiring to:

- Worship fully

- Spend Less

- Give More

- Love All

What does it mean to love all? Why should we?

[Allow response]

Simply put, we love all because that's what the world needs.

Last week, as we talked about how we conspire to give more, I recognized that there are some people that are just hard to shop for because they seem to have everything and don't need anything. But, as I said last week and say again, everybody needs something. If nothing else, everybody needs to be loved. That assertion is one of the great fundamental truths for humanity. God knows this.

I was starkly reminded of this truth Wednesday evening as I received word that one of my former captains in The Charlotte Fire Department, Roy Bradey, passed away. As we normally do when we get this kind of notification, I started reminiscing about my time with Roy, or Babe, as we affectionately called him.

As a young recruit when I got assigned to Roy's engine company, I didn't know much; actually, I knew much less than I thought I did. Babe saw beyond my need for more experience with skill and departmental procedure though. One day, Capt. Bradey called me into the office to chat with me. Naturally, having been called into the captain's office, I thought I was in trouble. Babe started talking with me and assured me that I was not in trouble, but said that I looked troubled. That's when he reached in his drawer and pulled out a book; this book [hold it up] and asked if I had ever read it. Being the son of a preacher and having grown up in church, I quickly recognized it as a Bible. I said, "The Bible, yeah. Why?" Bradey looked deep in my eyes and asked in a different way, "I know you have read parts of it, but have you ever read the whole thing?" I shifted in my seat a bit and replied laughingly, "Well, I have skipped all those 'begats'!" That's when he reached across his desk and said, "Tim, take this and read it. It's The Living Bible and it's easy to read. You need to read it because it is a love story; a story of God's love for you." That night, as I lied in bed, I began reading this book, for the first time as something more than a book of good sayings.

The other day, I picked this Bible up again and began thumbing through it as I thought about my friend. I paused as I read several of his notes and highlighted verses. Then I came across this particular text from the third chapter of John, which reads:

John 3.16-17

16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

I could have stopped there, because that pretty much summed up Bradey's confession of the Bible being a love story. But, I noticed that his highlighting didn't stop with that one verse that so many people memorize - verse sixteen. His highlighting went on to include the next verse too, which reads,

17 God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.

Somehow, it seems that too many people forget this verse. We have seen many examples of that unfortunate reality lately. One being those members from the church that is fervent in their belief of God's vengeful hate for people and who protest at highly noted funerals, even those of the victims of the school shooting in Connecticut.

Yet, before my angst against this misguided group turns to anger, I am reminded to look back at Capt. Bradey's bible again. Look at it with me. Do you see the heading?

God loves all people

Isn't that the crux of this passage? Isn't that what Babe told me some twenty years ago? Isn't that the whole purpose of Christmas? God loves all people. And we must also. Even with those we vehemently disagree.

So, how do we do it? How do we love all? For some, it will require us to look beyond their faults and see them for who they really are, unique and wonderfully made children of God, who have fallen short of God's glory because of sin, just like you and me. They, just like us, are in need grace, that undeserved love of a saviour. We love all, because they are us.

Others though, will be more lovable, but to love them will require more than just our acceptance. They will need our direct involvement just to go about their day-to-day living. They are our responsibility. We know this to be true as we find in John's first letter to a group of other followers of Jesus says:

1 John 3.17-18

17 But if anyone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need and refuses to help -- how can God's love be in that person? 18 Dear children, let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions.

So, once again, how do we do it? How do we put this love into action? We could find a child to sponsor, which is a great thing to do! We could also mentor kids in school or become a Big Brother or Big Sister; another great things to do! We can adopt an elderly person in a nursing home as a grandparent. Once again, a great thing to do! All of these, plus so many other avenues are great ways to touch and change the world, one life at a time.

But I wonder, as a community of faith, as followers of Jesus, are we called to look at how to love all in a bigger spectrum? Well, I know of one case where Jesus called his followers to do just that.

In Mark's gospel, we find the story of when Jesus had a huge crowd following him. It became late in the day and his disciples came up to Jesus and said, "Jesus, it's getting late and the people are starting to get hungry. Tell them to leave so they can find something to eat in some of the towns around us." Jesus looked at his friends and said something they weren't expecting, "You feed them." They were flabbergasted and replied, "Are you kidding us? With what?!" Jesus asked, "What food do you have?" They scrounged around and found they had five loaves of bread and two fish. Jesus then took those five loaves and two fish, blessed them and had his disciples to pass out the food to over five thousand people. Friends, here's the kicker, everybody ate until they were full! Five loaves of bread and two fish filled up over five thousand hungry people! (Mark 6:35-44)

Okay, how can this be?! How can basically a meal for two, maybe three people, if you really stretch it, feed five thousand till they are full? The answer is it can't! It can't happen without faith. Now the disciples didn't have the faith; they questioned Jesus about his rationale. So, if it was about faith and the disciples didn't have it, then who did? Jesus did...Jesus saw the need of all the people and loved all the people...and that's all it took. From that faith, the disciples witnessed the miracle of how to love all with just what you have.

Today and tomorrow night, we are receiving a special offering that springs up from just a portion of what we have saved by conspiring to make Christmas even more special. From this offering, the world will be forever changed because Jesus has faith in what God can do with just what we have. The offering today will go to help dig wells and provide fresh, clean water for villages in Zambia. Lives will be saved and people will be healthier because we listen to Jesus as he says, "Love all."

December 16, 2012 The Advent Conspiracy: Give More

Good morning saints of Sunrise! It is good to be here today on this third Sunday of Advent. I am excited about this season, not just because we are getting close to celebrating the birth of Jesus, but because of the excitement that I am sensing from you! Your excitement about The Advent Conspiracy is infectious and I thank you for that.

Now, before we get into this time of learning, let's go to God in prayer. Pray with me.

[Prayer]

As you have heard, we are now in the third week of The Advent Conspiracy. In this conspiracy, we are not only turning our understanding of Christmas back onto its feet, but we are conspiring to change the world in the name of Jesus.

But what about that word "conspire." It sounds not only a bit edgy, but actually it just sounds wrong. Our English language has deemed it to be primarily nefarious, but in our context for Advent, here is what we are working to accomplish:

to work or act together towards the same result or goal.

So, over the course of this Advent season, we are conspiring, or working together towards the same goal; that being to make this Christmas even more special as it changes the world.

We conspire to do this as we:

- Worship fully

- Spend Less

- Give More

- Love All

Now, last week, our focus was on spend less, of which we considered the motives behind our gift-giving practices.

During this time, we engaged in some deep introspection as to some possible reasons like

- being the social convention of what is "right and proper"

- out of the sense of reciprocity

- the implication that the number of gifts and the amount we spend somehow correlates to the depth of our love.

Of course, none of us want to think that any of these are the primary factors in our giving gifts. But, when we stop and really look into our motives, they may actually wield some influence on us.

Today, we are going to look into the next conspiracy step: Give More. Now, that just doesn't seem possible does it? How can I spend less but then, give more? This seems to be oxymoronic. Well, to get a better understanding of this dilemma, just like last week, we need to look at the motive behind the giving.

 

Let me ask you, what are some of the gifts you have received that were...less than impressive?

[Allow responses]

 

We all have received some of those kinds of gifts. For me, one that stands out was this

Now, friends, I tried my best to act pleasantly surprised. My mind began to race with what was the intent of this gift. Was it out of reciprocity? No, I had not given anything, yet. Was it an expression of the depth of her feeling for me? I hope not! Was it out of social convention of being the right and proper thing to do? Well, probably so, at least I hope so.

Now, what are some of the gifts that you have received that are priceless to you (and I am not referring to monetary value)?

[Allow responses]

What made these gifts so valuable to you? Was it the actual value? No. It was because you knew that the gift was a token, or a visible sign of that giver's love. 
 

Let's look how this sentiment is played out in the Bible. We will be looking at a portion of how the evangelist John told his rendition of the birth narrative of Jesus. 

 

John 1.1-4, 14

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.

14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.

 

Now these are just six verses out of the larger section of eighteen verses. The first thirteen verses sets out to establish who God is and who Jesus (known here as the Word) is in relation to God. As wee see, John does not show that there is any real distinction, that Jesus and God are one in the same. It also solidifies for us that God is the Giver of all things - nothing has come into being except through the gracious hands of God. So, once again, we see that God is the Giver.

But once we get to verse 14, something amazing happens with this concept of God being the Giver. In this verse, we see that the Giver becomes the Gift! That which is now becomes!

Now think about the ramifications that would come about if we followed this model of gift-giving. What would happen if we became so intentional about our gifts that we became the gifts? It would definitely transform our understanding of why we give...and for the recipient, it would alter their attitude in their receiving of the gift.

So, the question that immediately comes to mind for many would probably be,

"How can I become my gift?"

 

Well, to be honest, I can't tell you that. There is no cookie-cutter answer that will fit each situation. To become the gift means you will need to recognize the needs of each recipient...and everybody's needs are different.

Now, I know that you can think of someone and say, "That person has everything. They don't really need anything." Friends, let me tell you the honest truth here - everybody has needs; everybody needs something. The real gift that we can give is to find out what they need and then be the gift to fill that need.

Everybody has a need. Sometimes it's to be listened to or understood.

 

You see, we don't have to spend a lot of money or buy a lot of presents to show our love. We just need to be intentional and put our heart in the gifts. That's how we can give more and make this Christmas even more special as it changes the world.

 

While the band comes up, let's take a few moments to share with each other, some thoughts that you might be having about how you can give more by becoming your gift.

December 9, 2012 The Advent Conspiracy: Spend Less

Good morning! I am Tim Roberts, the pastor here at Sunrise. I want to take just a moment to thank Evan for sharing his talent and love with us this morning. I also want to thank you for being here. It truly brings so much excitement and joy to see you each Sunday. You are truly a unique community and it is so easy to feel God's love emanate from you each week and I praise God for that.

This morning, we continue to look at this conspiracy in which I invited you to join with me. As you may recall, the word conspire means

to work or act together towards the same result or goal.

Last Sunday, we began this conspiracy as we challenged each other to Worship Fully. Because we truly believe this season of Advent and this conspiracy must begin with worship - that is looking beyond all of the distractions, digging beneath all of the traditions and chaos that this season finds itself enveloped and once again discovering at the core - Jesus.

Now, this morning, we continue to conspire by working and acting together to Spend Less.

Christmas and Spend Less. Those are two terms that just don't seem to complement each other, do they. At least not as we look at our country's economic index. Many retailers look to this time between Thanksgiving and Christmas as the "make it or break it" season.

Well, for retailers, it looks like they will have a good year. Wilkes University, which is one of the leading institutions that economists look to for their studies, is forecasting at least a 3% increase in holiday sales for 2012.

Their studies are projecting that Americans will spend over $486 billion dollars during the Christmas shopping season and that is not including sales at Wal-Mart, which does not release their sales figures on a monthly basis.

Friends, that's roughly a half a trillion dollars! A half a trillion dollars spent on buying gifts! That's great news for our economy, but, I wonder, is it nurturing relationships or making any significant impact in the name of Jesus?

I also wonder why do we buy Christmas presents in the first place? After all, as my colleague, Mike Slaughter says, "It's not your birthday!"

The custom of exchanging gifts is rooted in several places. First, it may surprise you to know that for the first three centuries, Christmas wasn't celebrated at all. Christianity was illegal and anyone discovered to be a Christian was put to death. It wasn't until the year 313, when Constantine I became a Christian and removed the penalties that Christianity became accepted. A few years later, 350, Pope Julius I officially designated December 25th as the date to celebrate Jesus' birth.

Why December 25th? Isn't that the date of Jesus birth? Well, probably not. We don't know the exact date, but this date was chosen for a very particular reason, to combat a few of popular pagan festivals that fell around that period. First there was Saturnalia, a Roman feast that was know for its merriment and gift-giving. Another was the Mithraic religion of Persia that celebrates Sol Invictus: the Invincible Sun in which they celebrated the rebirth of the sun. Lastly, there was also the Kalends, which the Romans celebrated the first day of each month (which is where we get the term calendar), and for the beginning of the new year, there was also the exchange of presents.

So, the early Church fathers, especially St. John Chrysostom sought to abolish these pagan practices, but to no avail. Instead, the Christmas was established right over top of all that. So, the Roman celebration of the rebirth of the sun, became known as the Birth of the Son of God. Christmas then incorporated the celebratory aura of Saturnalia. Finally the exchange of gifts from the Kalends became Christianized as it recounted how the Magi brought gifts to honor the Christ child.

While this briefly explains how the exchange of gifts has roots in pagan rituals, it is also rooted in a Christian practice. Around this same time, St. Nicholas of Turkey was known for his generosity for giving gifts and money to poor children in some unique ways, such as dropping the gifts down chimneys. But he is also known to give presents to all children, regardless of need, because he felt that childhood should be savored and lived joyfully. After Nicholas' death, the movement of generously giving continued by others who took up the cause and spread the custom throughout the world over the next few centuries.

In a nutshell, that's how this annual ritual began. But maybe we need to ask, has it got out of hand?

Over the last few years, my extended family has gravitated to where we now basically exchange gift cards. I give a $25 gift card (which is the price limit) from Sears and usually get a $25 gift card from Wal-Mart. Somehow though, that just isn't getting it for me anymore.

So why do we do it? Is it as some suggest, we have fallen in the social convention trap that says that giving gifts, especially more of them and pricier ones are proofs of love. Friends, Christmas has to be more than that.

We have all heard the old adage, "Money can't buy happiness," right? So the question for today is, why do we think gifts can? Do we really believe that buying presents, especially a lot of them or really expensive ones really prove our love or will bring a real sense of joy to our lives?

Let's take a look in the Bible and see what wisdom it can share on this quandary.

Well, we have a problem here. There is not a passage directly related to spending less on gifts. Why is that? Well, it may be because that was not a problem of the day. Very few people lavished needless gifts on each other. So does, that mean there isn't any words of wisdom that we can find in here? No. Just because we can't find the exact problem in scripture doesn't mean it doesn't address the root of the problem. So let's take a look at what Paul says to Timothy about contentment, in his first letter to him.

1 Timothy 6:6-8

6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

Humh. That should make us stop to think for a moment. Do the gifts that we wrap up and put under the tree reflect this biblical truth? In the end, will these gifts make an eternal difference?

Now, friends, hear me on this point: I am not saying or advocating that we should cease buying gifts altogether, I am just convicted now that we need to practice moderation in our spending. That's all.

We need to conspire to become wiser in our spending habits at Christmas. Maybe as a way to help us to do this, we can ask ourselves these questions:

1. Am I buying this to try to prove my love?

2. How will this present help me and the recipient celebrate God's gift of grace through Jesus?

Our scripture today reminds me of a quote I recounted in a sermon a few weeks ago,

"The only thing we can take with us to Heaven is other people" (Michael Slaughter, Ginghamsburg UMC). Maybe that is also something we need to remember as we go about on our Christmas shopping sprees.

Of course, as you know, this Advent Conspiracy is indelibly tied to a mission - that is to make this Christmas even more special as it changes the world. So far, I believe you can see how by us conspiring to make some changes, we will see Christmas in a whole new light. But how will that change the world?

I want to invite you to help me in a small exercise.

[Begin clapping - get people in the rhythm]

Alright let's begin

[number off each 8th clap - do this up to count of 5]

Why did I have you do this? To demonstrate to you just how fast people die. A person dies every eight seconds as a result of waterborne disease

- During the time it took to do that short exercise, five people died as a result of consuming tainted water.

- During the time we spend here today in worship, more than 500 will die from lack of clean water

- During the average time of one shopping excursion of 2.5 hours, over 1000 will die because of contaminated water supply. One thousand deaths while we shop for presents that many people neither need nor want.

Today, I challenge you to conspire with me to change that. As we spend less, I invite you to take a portion, just a portion, of the money you save from spending less on Christmas presents and give it to the special offering that we will take up on December 23rd and 24th. Last week, we gave out special offering envelopes to hang on you tree and we have some more if you need one. Please know this about your offering to this mission, 100% of what you give will go to boring new wells and installing filtration systems in villages, so the people there will experience drinking living water. Even better, it will be done in the name of Jesus Christ, whose birth we celebrate on Christmas.

So how can we accomplish this lofty goal conspiring to spend less? I believe you have some ideas. Let's share some.

[Have them share ideas with each other and then corporately]

Friends, that's some Godly conspiring and it's how we conspire to Share the Love of Jesus so All Become His Followers.

December 2, 2012 The Advent Conpsiracy: Worship Fully

Good morning, Sunrise! I am Tim Roberts, the pastor of this great group of Christ followers here in the greater Winston-Salem area. Today we begin the season of Advent, which comes from the Latin word adventus, which means arrival or approach. Here in our context, Advent is the season of patiently awaiting for the arrival or approach of Jesus. But let's face it, most of our modern American society equates it with the beginning of the Christmas season.

I am excited about this season of Advent and have been for quite a while - ever since I felt God leading us to do something radically different this year. So, this year, we are going to take part in something radical. We're going to take part in a conspiracy!

A conspiracy. Sounds kind of risqué and edgy, doesn't it? It should! After all, let's look at the definition of its root word, "conspire."

1.  to agree together, especially secretly, to do something wrong, evil, or illegal

 

Now, hold on; something don't sound quite right with that. I mean, yes, that is the primary definition of conspire, but that can't be what God is leading us to do - something evil or illegal.

No, there's got to be something more to it than that. Let's dig into this a bit by looking at what the word originally meant.

The word "conspire" comes from another Latin word, conspīrāre, which means breathe together. While the primary definition does somewhat reflect that, it still doesn't seem quite right.  So, let's look at the second definition and see if it helps our quandary

2.  to act or work together toward the same result or goal.   

Now that seems more like something God would lead us to do, doesn't it? Friends, that's exactly what we're going to do in this time leading up to Christmas - we're going to conspire, to act and work together toward the same goal - that being to make this Christmas even more special as it changes the world!

That sounds good, but how can we accomplish such a feat? Simpy put, we can do this by conspiring to

-Worship Fully

- Spend Less

- Give More

- Love All

 

We begin this conspiracy today with Worship Fully.

To worship fully sounds like a no-brainer, right? I mean, who wouldn't agree that the whole point of Christmas is to worship the birth of Jesus?

Well, just as it appears that most people have forgotten what the season of Advent is really about, it also seems that the crux of Christmas has become heavily veiled too.

Let's consider for a moment all the stuff that we associate with Christmas.

What are some of those things, other than Jesus or the Nativity, that comes to mind when we think of Christmas?

All of this stuff, the decorations, parties, gifts, food,... all of it can distract us from and hide the source of the celebration. It's not the first time that people had some difficulty finding Jesus either.

This morning, I want to begin with a passage of scripture from the second chapter of Matthew's gospel. It is not about the events leading up to the birth of Jesus and not really about the birth either, though we often try to fit it in the birth story. It is about a visit from some wealthy foreigners that many scholars debate that could have occurred 2-4 years later. This story is found in Matthew 2:1-12.  

Matthew 2:1-12 (NLT)

1 Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, 2 "Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We have seen his star as it arose, and we have come to worship him." 3 Herod was deeply disturbed by their question, as was all of Jerusalem. 4 He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law. "Where did the prophets say the Messiah would be born?" he asked them. 5 "In Bethlehem," they said, "for this is what the prophet wrote: 6 'O Bethlehem of Judah, you are not just a lowly village in Judah, for a ruler will come from you who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.' " 7 Then Herod sent a private message to the wise men, asking them to come see him. At this meeting he learned the exact time when they first saw the star. 8 Then he told them, "Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!" 9 After this interview the wise men went their way. Once again the star appeared to them, guiding them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! 11 They entered the house where the child and his mother, Mary, were, and they fell down before him and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 But when it was time to leave, they went home another way, because God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.

[Prayer]

These wise men were astrologers. Much like astrologers today, they looked studied the celestial alignment of the stars and planets for some meaning in the relation between these astrological phenomena and events in the human world. In essence, they looked to the heavens for guidance and placed their hope in the stars.

They must have been taken aback and awestruck when they discovered a new star shining brightly in the sky. They carefully discerned that this star must be for the one they had heard about in stories from another people's faith. They knew that this must be the star of the one who would be born King of the Jews.

As we read, they didn't just admire the star, which astrologers do today. They didn't just study it, as astronomers do today. What we read is they followed the star. They purposefully followed it, even to the point of later resisting governmental authority. This star led them to the real source of all hope.

Now let's stop for just a moment and consider this story. Here we have foreigners or "non-believers," as some may say, who saw beneath all the chaos of the day (the power struggles, the confusion of the people, the debates over tradition...). As God's grace preceded them, they found, beneath all of this stuff, Jesus...and they worshipped him. They didn't just share some hugs amongst each other, make a toast, eat turkey and ham, and exchange gifts. No, we read, they worshipped him!

Today, we find things not much different. There are still power struggles, not just political powers struggling with each other about the fiscal cliff; we have stores competing for Christmas sales profits and Conservative Christians arguing with the secular community as to rather trees should be called Christmas trees or Holiday trees. We see struggles over tradition, with new family tradition impeding on old traditions and Christmas-vs-Chanukah-vs-Kwanza.  

As we said earlier,  we have other distractions too; distractions like excessive gift buying, extravagant lights and decorations, holiday movies, 24 hour Christmas songs,...

Yet, beneath all of this stuff, we still find Jesus

The question for us today is, which do we worship? Which is worthy of our adoration?

You see, our hearts are formed by what we worship. So, during this time of year, does the way we spend our time, money, and energy testify that we worship the stuff of Christmas or the source of God's undying love?

I want to challenge us to conspire this year. Let's conspire, work and act together, to change the world by seeking Jesus beneath all the Christmas stuff, and worship him fully.