Wrapped in Love

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

November 25, 2012

Celebration of our Prayer Shawl Ministry

Wrapped in Love

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

“Today when I received the lovely prayer shawl

from all of you wonderful people of the Ministry

it brought a tear to my eye.

The shawl is so soft and such a lovely color

that I wanted to keep it for myself,

but also felt compelled to pass it on to a friend

who has just been diagnosed with cancer

in almost all of her major organs.

I know that the ripple blessing of my passing this on

will mean so much more to both Mary and me

than if I kept it for myself.

Your ministry is fantastic;

keep up the good work.”

That was from a letter sent to our Prayer Shawl Ministry.

        

Here’s another:

“You can’t imagine what your gift meant

to a family who was under terrible stress.

They were faced with waiting for a two-month old infant

to survive open heart surgery.

Her weight had dropped to a dangerous level

and the surgery simply could not wait.

Your gift and your prayers were highly instrumental

in bringing about the desired results.

She not only survived the surgery,

but in the week following that surgery

gained a significant amount of weight

and things are looking good.

The family told us how much it meant just to know

that Christian friends were praying

and waiting to hear the good results.

They were amazed by the beauty of the gift

and the healing touch it brought to all their lives.

We are all so grateful for your dedication

and the practical, stitch by stitch,

working out of your faith.”

And one more:

“I wanted to thank you for our shawl.

When our deacon delivered it on a hot, late summer day,

we admired its deep purple color

and acknowledged the kindness

in having been chosen to receive it.

Since the weather was so warm,

I put it in the spare bedroom

and there it sat, forgotten, until this week.

This week the weather turned cold and blustery

and parts of my life were beginning to spin out of control.

Then I remembered the shawl.

I got it out of its bag

and wrapped it around my shoulders,

thinking, at the least, that it would warm me up.

And it did –

a lovely warmth began to spread throughout my body

and I began to feel calmer and more serene.

The parts of my life that were spinning stopped

and a peace settled over me.

I wanted to share that with all of you.

But then, this comes as no surprise to you, does it?

So, many thanks to all of you wonderful people.

Now I am spending time with my shawl every day

and feeling the comfort and joy

of everyone who made it.”

These are excerpts from dozens and dozens of letters

our Prayer Shawl Ministry has received

over the past few years.

Each letter is so touching, so heart-felt.

They speak to the power of the ministry

our knitters are engaged in.

Something so seemingly simple:

knitting a small shawl,

or perhaps a hat, or a scarf,

or even a little prayer square,

and then giving it to a person:

young or old,

male or female,

a friend, a stranger;

perhaps even to a friend to give to a stranger.

You can buy a heavier shawl;

you can find a thicker hat;

there’s fancier knitwear with designer labels.

But nowhere can you find anything

that will warm you and touch you,

soothe you and grace you with peace

the way these prayer shawls do.

For these shawls are knitted in love,

knitted for love,

knitted to spread love.

They are given to anyone who asks:

the sick,

the troubled,

the frightened,

the worried,

the anxious,

the lonely,

the exhausted.

Anyone who needs a hug

knitted with yarn made of hope and love.

Shawls have been given to every family in this church,

every one of us wrapped in the love

which is the foundation of the Prayer Shawl Ministry –

that very same love we’ve talked about the past few weeks:

Love that begins with God

and extends through each of us to neighbor.

My mother received a prayer shawl

shortly after she was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

She knew none of the ladies who knitted her shawl,

and they didn’t know her,

but that didn’t matter.

My mother wrapped herself in the shawl each day,

wrapped herself in love,

love knitted in every inch of the shawl.

When my mother died,

we wrapped her in her shawl

and I find it very easy to picture her in the joy of heaven

with the shawl still wrapped around her shoulders.

After all, the shawl was knitted in love,

given in love,

to wrap her in love,

and now she knows only love,

so it just fits that she’d still have round her shoulders.

Our Prayer Shawl Ministry is part of a national,

even global ministry,

started by two women in Hartford Connecticut in 1998.

Our group is celebrating its 7^th year of activity,

and many saints have been part of the group.

I enjoy popping into the Youth Room

on Thursday mornings when Nancy and her ladies –

to use her term –

are hard at work,

laboring at love

enjoying one another’s company

as they knit, talk, and pray.

    

The national organization’s website

captures the spirit of the ministry:

“Shawls ... [are] symbolic of an inclusive,

unconditionally loving God.

They wrap, enfold, comfort,

cover, give solace,

hug, shelter and beautify.

Those who have received these shawls have been 

uplifted and affirmed,

as if given wings to fly above their troubles...”

It was the poet Rainer Maria Rilke who wrote,

“I live my life in widening circles

that reach out across the world.”

From the two women who started knitting in Hartford in 1998,

ever widening circles of knitters have expanded

to include our church and countless others,

children of God reaching out

in still more widening circles of love

to other children of God,

the ministry giving life to the words

Paul wrote so long ago,

that we are able to console any and all

who are afflicted

“with the consolation with which we ourselves

are consoled by God.”

        

Rilke continued,

“Only in our doing can we grasp God;

only with our hands can we illumine him.”

In the act of knitting,

our Prayer Shawl knitters grasp God’s call

to reach out to all with compassion and consolation,

and then with their hands illumine God,

the bright light of his love radiating out,

in ever widening circles,

drawing more and more within the circles,

everyone wrapped in love.

AMEN

Provocative Words

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

November 18, 2012

Provocative Words

Hebrews 10:23-25

“I am going to tell you how you should vote

and who you should vote for.”

If I wanted to give you an example of provocative words,

I don’t think I could do much better than with that statement,

especially if I had spoken those words

from the pulpit two weeks ago.

To provoke another person is to incite, to push,

to irritate,

to cross a boundary.

The word “provoke” comes with a

“fingernails-on-chalkboard” quality,

a screechiness that gets under the skin.

All those robocalls that interrupted our dinner hours

for weeks on end were provocative,

although I think they provoked anger, contempt and disgust

more than anything else.

“Vote for this candidate,

or don’t vote for that candidate.”

Still, they must have provoked the response

the callers were seeking

from more than a few listeners.

At the beginning of my seventh-grade year

I was told I could choose to learn a foreign language.

French, Spanish, and Latin were the three choices offered me.

In my mind, though, there were really only two choices;

Latin was off the list.

But my mother persuaded me to take Latin,

that it would be a good thing;

that it would help me both as a reader and a writer.

So I took Latin……reluctantly.

Over the years I learned that my mother was right –

and yes, I did tell her that! –

word roots and word histories

can help us to understand meanings.  

So when we hear the word “provoke”,

we should dig a little into the word’s roots:

Pro Vocare:

Latin that means “to call forth”

There is no connotation of irritation

or annoyance in the Latin;

it is simply a call to action,

to prod a bit, but not in an irritating way,

as much as in a challenging way.

In writing,

“let us consider how to provoke one another

to love and good deeds….”

the author is urging his brothers and sisters in Christ

to be active, not to sit still,

but to build community by encouraging,

stirring up,

nurturing, exciting one another in faith.

The author of the letter to the Hebrews –

it probably was not Paul –

was talking to new Christians,

those who were struggling to figure out what it meant

to live as disciples of Jesus Christ

forty years following his crucifixion and resurrection.

The earliest Christians lived in constant danger:

while they wanted to proclaim “Jesus is Lord,”

they were commanded,

often at the point of sword, to say,

“Caesar is Lord”.

The letter encouraged them to hang onto

their hope and their faith,

as they helped one another,

encouraged one another,

and yes, provoked one another

to love and good deeds.

Provoked one another to do as Jesus taught the scribe,

in the lesson we heard two weeks ago:

to love God with all their hearts, all their minds,

all their strength, and all their souls

and to love their neighbors as themselves.

As we learned from that lesson,

to live life that way

is to draw ever closer to the Kingdom of God.

Even as the author was encouraging his listeners,

he reminded them of the importance of community,

of gathering faithfully, regularly to worship,

to nurture one another in faith in community.

There was and is no rugged individualism

in the church of Jesus Christ.

We may vaunt that characteristic in our society,

but we cannot forget that much of what Jesus teaches us

runs counter to what society teaches us.

So, Blessed are the poor,

not the rich and famous;

The meek and humble shall inherit the earth,

not the strong and the powerful.

We become a part of community in our baptism.

We become part of the universal church of Jesus Christ,

joining the family of all followers of Christ.

To reinforce this sense of community

each time we baptize someone,

we make a communal,

community-wide promise to the new disciple,

the promise we made today to Julie,

the promise we made this past summer

 to a dozen children:

“Do you as members of the church of Jesus Christ

promise to guide and nurture Julie

by word and deed,

with love and prayer,

encouraging her to know and follow Christ

and to be a faithful member of Christ’s church?”

When you responded that you would,

you were promising to provoke Julie

to a life of love and good deeds

through words, of course,

but more important,

by the example of your own life of love and good deeds.

In her book, “Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith”,

Anne Lamott writes so touchingly

of the community that she is part of:

“My friends are the reason I have so much faith in God.

…I would not be here were it not for the love, support,

and wisdom of the people of St. Andrew Presbyterian Church…

Their deep faith and love of God, and life,

have changed my world forever….”

If you’ve ever read any of her books or articles

you know that Lamott is a gifted writer.

She is also a recovering addict,

recovering from years of addiction to both alcohol and drugs.

She does not exaggerate when she says,

“I would not be here without [my church family]”

But even as she sings praises for her brothers and sisters,

she is also quick to acknowledge

that hers is not that perfect church

we all imagine must exist somewhere,

that place where everyone always gets along,

where the hymns that are sung

are always everyone’s favorites,

and where the preacher keeps his sermons to 10 minutes.

She portrays her church community

located in a town just north of San Francisco,

with all its strengths that have helped her,

but she doesn’t hide the community’s shortcomings.

Shortcoming that are no different

from what we’ve experienced here and

in every single church any of us has ever been part of,

ranging from disagreements over

what to serve at the annual fall dinner,

to struggles each year to recruit enough volunteers

for their various ministries;

And I am guessing her church too struggles

to get every member to return a pledge card

during the annual Stewardship campaign.

At her church, our church, every church

the disciples who make up the community

are all trying to do the same thing:

answer the question Jesus asked of Peter

“who do you say I am.”

(Mark 8:29)

and then from there figure out

what our response to that question

means to each of us,

and how we should live our lives,

how our response should shape and guide our lives.

It may not be as dangerous for us to live as Christians

as it was for those who first heard the letter to the Hebrews,

but living faithfully as a disciple of Jesus Christ is not easy.

It is why we need to encourage one another,

provoke one another.  

The flesh is weak,

and as often as not the spirit is just simply tired.

We need encouragement;

we need to encourage one another,

not only because discipleship is often difficult,

but also, as our lesson reminds us,

we need to live our lives as disciples with a sense or urgency,

looking to that day when Christ will come again,

come again in glory.

For, as our Lord has taught us

when he does come,

he’ll come like a thief in the night.

The month of December reminds us

that the Advent of our Lord

is something that will happen suddenly,

without even a hint of warning,

and we had better be ready.

In celebrating our Heritage, our history,

we celebrate how all our heritage saints

provoked one another to love and good deeds,

in building this body, building this church.

And future members of the Heritage Society

are called in the same way

to provoke one another to love, to grace,

to live fully into the lives we are called to in our baptism,

lives following the One

who most assuredly speaks provocative words

to every one of us,

calling us move 
“from selfishness to generosity,

from fear to love,

from hatred to compassion,

from the narrowness of self-righteousness

to the wideness of mercy.”

(Christopher Henry)

Calling us to lives transformed,

yet always transforming,

as we respond to our Lord’s most provocative words,

“Follow me.”

AMEN

Burnt Offerings

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The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

November 4, 2012

Burnt Offerings

Mark 12:28-34

It had been a tough week for Jesus.

After riding into Jerusalem in the triumphant

Palm Sunday parade,

hearing the clamor of the crowds shouting,

“Hosanna!

Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord,”

things went downhill quickly.

Of course, he didn’t help himself;

his actions and his words played right into his opponents’ hands,

just as he knew they would.

What an incredible opportunity he gave them after the parade,

when he went into the Temple –

the Temple! –

that great and holy place first built by Solomon,

destroyed by the Babylonians,

and then rebuilt stone-by-stone to the glory of God.

Jesus walked in and went on a rampage,

driving out all those who were buying and selling,

going after them with fury

as he overturned tables

shouting, “Thief! Robber!”

The leaders of the religious community

were unified and resolute:

it was time to eliminate this man,

this threat to their power, position, prestige.

Jesus was equally resolute and

he attacked the religious authorities

with same vigor he had used in the Temple.

Only this time he went after them with words,

through the parable of the wicked tenants,

a story that barely disguised

the breathtaking venality

of the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the scribes.

The religious leaders tried to trap Jesus,

trap him into saying something

that could be considered blasphemous

or something seditious against the Roman rulers.

They questioned him about paying taxes;

they confronted him with theological riddles.

They were relentless.

They saw it as a battle,

a battle between them and him,

and only one side could win.

Not once was there an effort made to sit down with Jesus,

to talk with him,

to engage him seriously in conversation,

to hear him out,

perhaps even to learn from him.

                          

But what would have been the point?

The Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes:

they all knew what they knew:

Jesus was a threat to them,

a threat to the Temple,

a threat to their religious traditions,

a threat to the very nation,

They were on the side of right,

while Jesus was unquestionably, undeniably wrong.

Into this vortex, this theological, sociological,

and certainly political storm came the scribe.

A scribe – one who recorded the laws,

a man who knew the laws in detail.

He was there with his colleagues,

there presumably for support as the leaders

tried their best to trip up Jesus.

The scribe “heard Jesus and the religious leaders

disputing with one another”

He heard every word.

But amazingly, astonishingly,

the scribe thought to himself,

“Jesus is answering them well.

His answers make sense.”

And so the scribe pushed through the circle

of religious leaders surrounding Jesus

so he could confront him, put a question to him.

As he found himself face to face with Jesus

all his colleagues no doubt thought,

“Bravo for the clever scribe;

surely he’s got a question that will

lay this false prophet, this troublemaker

flat out once and for all.

Surely this scribe will question Jesus

on some obscure point of law

that only the scribe would know.

The scribe will show him!”

But his question was not asked to trap Jesus,

nor to trick him,

nor to goad him into saying something

that could be used against him later.

His question was simple, faithful:

“Which commandment is the first of all?”

With Ten Commandments as the foundation of the Law,

surely one must be more important than the others,

surely one must be the most important.

“Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy;”

“Make no graven images;”

“Do not bear false witness.”

Which was the most important?

But Jesus didn’t pick any of the Ten Commandments;

he turned instead to what Moses had taught

the children of Israel more than a thousand years earlier:

“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one;

you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,

and with all your soul,

and with all your mind

and with all your strength.”

And to that Jesus added another commandment

also from the days of Moses,

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

There is no other commandment greater than these.”

The scribe was focused on Jesus,

but he knew the crowd around him was looking at him,

waiting for him to pounce on Jesus,

waiting for him to attack Jesus with a quick, sharp rejoinder.

The scribe knew that for him to agree with Jesus

would be tantamount to turning his back on his brothers,

to be seen by them as a traitor.

But the scribe had listened carefully to Jesus,

and he knew in his heart and in his mind,

that Jesus’ words were true;

they made sense.

He couldn’t argue with them.

He agreed with them.

And so, to the utter astonishment

of his brothers all around him, the scribe said,

“You are right, Teacher,

you have truly said that,

‘God is one, and besides him there is no other,

and to love him with all the heart,

and with all the understanding,

and with all the strength,

and to love one’s neighbor as oneself –

this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings,

and sacrifices.”

All his colleagues:

the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the other scribes,

all gathered round him, to a man,

all turned crimson with rage.

They could not believe their ears:

Had they heard correctly?

 Had the scribe actually said to Jesus,

“You are right”?

Had he really called Jesus, “teacher”,

a term of honor and respect?

But even as rage overflowed among the men huddled

around Jesus and the scribe,

Jesus paid no attention to them

but simply looked at the scribe with warmth,

with acceptance, and with love as he said,

“You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”

The scribe was the only one who listened to Jesus,

the only one who took time to engage with him.

The scribe was the only one

who approached Jesus with humility,

who approached Jesus as one might approach a neighbor.

Imagine if we did more of that today:

if we listened to one another,

as the scribe listened to Jesus,

if we actually engaged in conversation,

rather than simply talked at each other.

Imagine if we treated everyone,

including those with whom we disagree

on issues great and small

with some degree of civility,

treated them as our neighbor,

showing respect,

love,

as Jesus calls us to.

Just how bad things have got I think was best captured

when a candidate for Congress was asked recently

his opinion about bipartisanship.

His response was

“I certainly think bipartisanship ought to consist

of [the other party] coming to [our] point of view,”

“If we [win] …bipartisanship means

[the other party has] to come our way.”

I have no doubt that when the candidate said these words,

his supporters roared with approval:

this was raw meat thrown to the lions.

He was saying in effect,

“Once we win, once we are in power,

we’ll crush the other side anytime they don’t think our way,

anytime they disagree with us.

It’s our way, or no way.”

The problem is,

that while this kind of thinking may be politically popular,

it is utterly lacking in what Jesus teaches us,

for it shows not the slightest hint of respect,

much less love for neighbor.

God knows that we are stubborn creatures:

“stiff-necked” is the term we find God uses for us

frequently in the Old Testament.

But God prods us:

“reason together,

find a way to talk,

work together.

Even within our own denomination

we have shown our willingness to sling mud:

Shouts of “apostate” and “blasphemer”

have been heard

even within the stained-glass settings of church.

But where does that get us?

Shall we divide the Lord’s Table into sections:

those who think one way,

sit on one side of the Table,

while those who think a different way,

sit on the other side?

How is that modeling love for neighbor,

the commandment that Jesus teaches us

is as important as loving God?

How is that moving us closer to the Kingdom?

To love God without loving neighbor

is to bring burnt offerings and sacrifices

to the Lord’s Table,

while leaving Jesus out of the picture.

It was the fourth century theologian Augustine who wrote,

“Whoever thinks that he understands the Holy Scriptures,

or any part of them,

but puts such an interpretation upon them

as does not tend to build this two-fold love

of God and our neighbor,

does not understand them as he ought.”

(On Christian Doctrine, Chapter 36:40)

The Reverend Dr. Richard Mouw is a seminary president

and a man not hesitant to express his opinions.

In his thoughtful and thought-provoking book,

Uncommon Decency,

He has acknowledged that people of faith

are people with strong convictions

who are easily captivated by polarizing positions.

But he goes on to say,

Christian disciples ought to be very careful

about attaching themselves too firmly to a position

if the end result is division and rancor.

John Calvin, the theologian who helped launch the Reformation,

provides us with wisdom and guidance with his words,

five hundred years old, yet timeless:

“The sum of the Christian life is the denial of ourselves.

We are not our own, we are God’s.

…Let his wisdom and will rule all our actions.

[That means that] Scripture bids us act toward [others]

so as to esteem them above ourselves

and in good faith to apply ourselves wholly

 to doing them good.”

(Institutes, 3.7.4-7)

The scribe and Jesus

“found themselves talking above ideological divides”

and engaged in conversation

that was grounded in redemption,

in mutual love,

in respect,

because it was conversation grounded in God.

(Cynthia Jarvis)

In his letter to the church at Rome,

Paul wrote,

             O the depth of the riches and wisdom 
             and knowledge of God!

How unsearchable are his judgments

and how inscrutable his ways!
‘For who has known the mind of the Lord?”

(Romans 11:33)

You?

Me?

Our call is to work together

to discern God’s will as best we can,

listening for God’s voice through one another,

including through the one

with whom we are most likely to disagree.

For the life Jesus calls us to is a life

building community,

and working for reconciliation

on a foundation of grace,

forgivness,

and love,

all of us together

moving ever closer to the Kingdom of God.

AMEN