Life Lessons

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

July 31, 2016

Life Lessons

Selected Texts

“Do we, as members of the church of Jesus Christ

promise to guide and nurture Thea

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?”

You were all asked that question a few minutes ago

and you all responded, “we will”.

You promised Thea that you will guide her,

nurture her,

encourage her…to know Christ,

to follow Christ.

You promised you would do this by word and deed,

and with love and prayer.

In your promise,

you became Thea’s  godparent.

Every one who responded

made a covenant with Thea.  

Over the past few weeks

you made the same promise to Robbie

and to Christopher.

In the fall you’ll covenant with Lindsay,

and others.

Will you honor your promise?

How will you honor your promise?

What will you do

to live up to the covenant you just made?

You made a promise –

now you need to keep it.

There is one obvious way:

prayer –

prayer for Thea, her family,

her well being –

that is something we all can do,

we all should do.

In the future you might help in the nursery,

ETC;

you might teach Sunday School,

        

Of course, that assumes

that the Spirit has graced you with the gifts

you need to work with children.

Some have those gifts;

others have different gifts,

so you might need to look for other ways

to keep your promise.

You can honor your promise

in a more indirect way;

more indirect, but just as important:

you can work to keep this church strong;

to strengthen its foundation for the future

so that as Thea goes through the years,

she’ll have this church as a place to learn,

sing, laugh,

ask questions;

a safe place for her,

a place where she can grow in the Spirit,

a place where in time

she can discern the gifts

she’s been given by God through the Holy Spirit.

What a gift we give our children

when they are able to grow up

within the church!

Paul teaches us,

“Live your life in a manner

worthy of the gospel of Christ”

(Philippians 1:27)

We are all called to live Christ-like lives,

every one of us,

and that is the most effective way

you can keep your promise,

honor your covenant:

By your life, be a model for Thea,

that your words and your deeds

reflect Christ.

Children are extraordinarily perceptive;

even the youngest pick up

who is just talking the talk,

and who is really walking the walk.

Your words,

your actions – they matter.

Our children notice;

our children learn from examples

both good and bad.

Honor your promise

by “Living your life in a manner

worthy of the gospel of Christ”

Two weeks ago, we heard words

from the apostle Paul,

words from a letter,

words that gave us very specific guidance

for how to live our lives

in a manner worthy of the gospel.

Do you remember what Paul wrote in his letter?

He began by saying,

“Take your everyday, ordinary life—

your sleeping, eating, going-to-work,

and walking-around life—

and place it before God as an offering.”

That’s where Paul wants us to start:

our lives, yours, mine, all of us,

an offering every day to God.

Paul went on, advising us,

“Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture

that you fit into it without even thinking.

Instead, fix your attention on God.

You’ll be changed from the inside out.”

In Paul’s time,

just as in in our time,

the very society in which we live

can drag us down.

In fact, it will drag us down

down into immaturity,

roughness,

vulgarity,

ignorance,

even barbarity.

The culture in which we live

can and often does

drag us into rooms labeled

fear,

anger,

hatred.

Be careful,

be alert, Paul warns us.

Stay focused on God,

on Christ.

on the Spirit.

Paul in his letter gave us life lessons

we learn,

but which we then unlearn,

leading us to have to learn them again,

and again, and again,

if we are going to live a life worthy of the gospel,

if we are going to live a life that will be a model,

an example for the children of our church.

Paul wasn’t kidding,

wasn’t exaggerating, when he said

we are to be changed from the inside out,

“transformed”.

How else can we hope to learn from Paul

and live by his guidance when he says to us,

“Don’t hit back;  

discover beauty in everyone.

If you can, [try to] get along with everybody.

Don’t insist on getting even;

…that’s not for you to do.

‘I’ll do the judging,’ says God.

‘I’ll take care of it.’”

We need to be transformed to live by those words!

Paul knew how hard it would be

to live by those words.

But Paul also knew that the Christian life,

the life we embrace,

the life we want Thea to embrace,

is aspirational,

always calling us to ascend the heights,

the heights of goodness,

of compassion

of kindness,

of grace,

of love,

even as the world around us

constantly tugs at us

trying to pull us back down.

In her book, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek,

Annie Dillard wrote

“But we must read the fine print:

[because God says to us],

‘not as the world giveth, give I unto you.’”

Dillard says, that’s the catch,

the catch we miss because

we have our eyes, minds,

and hearts set on the world

while God calls us to set our eyes, minds,

and hearts on things above.

In another of his letters Paul reminds us

that, “We don’t yet see things clearly.

We’re squinting in a fog,

 peering through a mist.

[In time that will change]

… But for right now, … [Paul writes,]

we have three things to do

to lead us [onward, forward]:

Trust steadily in God,

hope unceasingly,

love extravagantly.”

(1 Corinthians 13, The Message)

There you have it:

To live a life worthy of the gospel

is to trust God.

to hold onto hope,

and to love extravagantly.

When we trust God,

when we live in hope,

when we love extravagantly,

then, as we talked about last week,

we will have nothing to fear,

and certainly no reason to hate,

we’ll know peace,

because we’ll be living the gospel.

Start with love,

finish with love –

that’s what Paul tells us.

That’s what our Lord tells us.

love in all its many forms

Love that

“never gives up.
…,Isn’t always ‘me first,’
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
…Puts up with anything,
…Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,

but keeps going to the end.”

(1 Corinthians 13, The Message)

These are lessons we learn through life       

as we walk in faith, grow in faith,

sometimes slide back in faith,

as we strive to live the gospel,

strive to live aspirationally

strive to nurture faith in others,

including our children.

C. S. Lewis wrote,

“God became man

not to produce a better man [or woman],

but to produce a new kind of man

[and woman]”

(Mere Christianity)

We honor our promises to our children

and to ourselves

by opening ourselves to the

transforming power of the Spirit,

opening ourselves to change from the inside out,

beginning with the waters of baptism

and ending only when we take our last breath.

Trust in God,

hope unceasingly,

love extravagantly.

Live a life worthy of the gospel.

Honor your promise.

AMEN  

Taming the Furies

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

July 24, 2016

Taming the Furies

Selected Texts

The cab pulled up in front of the hotel

in central Moscow.

The hotel was new,

a five-star hotel, part of German chain.

It was located right across from the storied Kremlin,

set on the banks of the Moscow River,

the onion domes of St. Basil’s Cathedral

just off to the right.

I stepped out of the cab.

A doorman took my suitcase

and led me toward the entrance.

Before I entered the hotel, though,

I noticed that on either side of the doors

stood uniformed men,

armed men,

men with automatic weapons.

The year was 1993

and it was the beginning of post-Soviet Russia.

Russia was feverish with capitalism,

a gold-rush mentality everywhere;

“cowboy capitalism”,

as some pundits called it at the time.

Corruption was rife, as was violence.

I quickly learned that

the measure of a businessman’s

power and prestige

was reflected by the number of bodyguards he had.  

I’d been told to be cautious, careful,

but otherwise, I didn’t need to fear,

so the next day, Sunday, I went walking.

I walked around the Kremlin, Red Square,

and Lenin’s tomb.

It was a beautiful fall day

and the city teemed with people out and about.

Suddenly I realized that I was surrounded

by a group of boys,

young boys, the oldest perhaps 12,

6 of them, maybe 8,

all around me,

closing a circle as we walked.

In an instant, one boy tripped me

and I went down,

and as soon as I hit the ground,

another boy put his hand

in my pants pocket fishing for money,

a wallet, whatever he might find.

He grabbed the currency I had in that pocket,

pulled it out,

showed it with obvious delight to his gang,

and then off they ran.

It all happened in a matter of a minute.

I was not hurt –

either by the boys or by the fall.

I got up, and dusted myself off.

I had not lost my wallet or passport.

I’d learned from traveling over the years

to separate my cash from my wallet;

I always kept my wallet and passport

in an inside coat pocket.

The boys had found about 50 dollars

in US currency in my pocket,

a modest loss for me,

but in those days in Moscow,

a great haul for the boys.

I started to walk back toward the hotel,

and after just a few steps

I could feel a wave of fear wash over me,

fear as I had never felt it before.

Suddenly everyone around me

was someone who frightened me,

everyone a potential threat.

Even a young couple pushing a stroller

unnerved me.

A group of young boys had attacked me,

mugged me,

taken money from me,

and even though I was physically fine,

I was shaken,

I was afraid.

Fear held me in its grip

for the remainder of my time in Moscow.

It held on even as I traveled to St. Petersburg.

It didn’t start to let go until

my plane from St. Petersburg

touched down in Vienna,

where I then caught a flight

back to New York.

Fear is insidious.

Fear grips us, grabs hold,

overwhelms us.

Fear in countless forms:

Fear of the dentist;

fear of lightning,

fear of a snarling dog,

fear of shadows and darkness,

fear of speaking in public,

fear of the different, the strange,

the unfamiliar.

Fear is an emotion hardwired into us,

hardwired for good reason:

we should be fearful of

the coiled snake about to strike,

the approaching hurricane—

fear can help us protect ourselves.

But fear can also be our undoing.

Fear can grip us and drain our sense,

our logic,

our best impulses,

as it did me in Moscow.

And fear can all too easily

lead us to its favorite partner: hate.

The Reverend Ted Loder speaks of

the furies of hate and fear,

furies that can grip us,

pit us one against another:

Christian against Muslim,

Black against White,

Immigrant against citizen.

In another time,

Americans against the Soviets.

As followers of Jesus Christ,

what are we to do?

What are we to do with

the furies of hate and fear?

We know we are called to love, forgive,

accept, embrace,

but how can we

when the furies have hold of us?

Reverend Loder offers us just what we need—

a prayer:

“Strengthen us, O Lord,

to walk and work,

pray and speak,

to confront the furies of hate and fear…”

Strengthen us, O Lord,

as your children,

and as disciples of your Son

to confront the furies of hate and fear,

confront them and

strip them of their power,

their hold over us,

that we might be ambassadors

for reconciliation,

forgiveness,

peace;

that we might be ambassadors of Christ.

Election season tends to unleash

the furies of hate and fear,

along with the third member

of the troika: ignorance.

Politicians of all stripes

have always found fear an effective tool.

Go back to 1964 and we can find

what is probably the textbook example

of a political advertisement

designed to evoke and stoke fear:

the famous “Daisy” ad,

an ad in support of Lyndon Johnson’s candidacy

against Barry Goldwater.

It is an ad that begins with an adorable girl,

all of 5 years old,

plucking a daisy of its petals,

counting – “1, 2, 3…”

Her voice gives way to a man’s voice,

counting as well,

but counting down:…”3, 2, 1”,

and then the blinding flash and

the horrifying mushroom cloud of a nuclear explosion;

a stentorian voice then leading us

to the obvious conclusion:

who do you trust

when you are filled with fear?

It was an ad built on fear,

fear and hatred,

fear and hatred of the Soviets,

hatred of those “godless commies”

who we knew, just knew,

back in the 1960s,

were ready to reduce us to ash and cinder.

And also, of course,

fear of having the wrong person

in charge to watch over us.

“Strengthen us, O Lord,

to walk and work

pray and speak,

live and love

confronting the furies of hatred and fear.”

Fear not, says the Lord.

Trust God.

Trust God even when things look bleakest,

even hopeless:

“Even though I walk through

the Valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil;

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff—

they comfort me.”

(Psalm 23:4)

God’s words to the young Joshua

as he took on Moses’ mantle,

are words for us, as well:

“Be strong and courageous;

do not be frightened or dismayed,

for the Lord your God is with you

wherever you go.”

(Joshua 1:9)

For as much comfort as we draw

from the familiar words of Psalm 23,

there are words for me

that I have always found

even more comforting,

words that melt my fears,

words from God through the prophet Isaiah:

“But now …says the Lord,

he who created you, …,

he who formed you, …:

Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by name,

you are mine.

When you pass through the waters,

I will be with you;

and through the rivers,

they shall not overwhelm you;

when you walk through fire

you shall not be burned,

and the flame shall not consume you.

For I am the Lord your God,

the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

…You are precious in my sight,

and honored,

and I love you,

…Do not fear,

for I am with you;

Do not fear,

…I am with you.”

(Isaiah 43)

It is unlikely that Franklin Roosevelt

thought he was making a theological statement

in his first inaugural address in 1933,

but in a way he was when he said,

“…the only thing we have to fear

is fear itself…”

We should fear fear,

for it is often

“unreasoning and unjustified.”

We should fear fear,

because it can lead us to judgment,

to anger,

to violence.

to hatred.

Fear gets between us and God,

us and Christ.

And the distance grows wider

when fear takes us down the road

to anger, hatred.

As the Psalmist once sang,

“The Lord… delivered me from all my fears.

Look to him, and be radiant;

…With the Lord on my side I do not fear.

What can mortals do to me?

(Psalms 34:4; also 118:6; 56)

Someday I hope to go back to Moscow,

and when I do, I’ll walk around again,

a little wiser,

but certainly not fearful.

Someday I also hope to go back to

the boardwalk in Nice,

where I once spent a pleasant afternoon

while I was traveling

in between my junior and senior year in college,

a place recently marked by horror,

death and destruction.

When I go, I will not fear,

I will not hate.

Someday I also hope to go back to Munich,

where I also have been,

and when I go,

I will not let the furies of fear and hate

take hold of me.  

On the night of his arrest,

our Lord knew his disciples were filled

with a sense of foreboding,

filled with anxiety,

filled with worry,

filled with fear.

So our Lord said to them:

“Peace I leave with you;

my peace I give to you.

I do not give to you as the world gives.

Do not let your hearts be troubled,

and do not let them be afraid.”

(John 14:27)

As Eugene Peterson words it in “The Message”,

Jesus left his disciples “well and whole”

Jesus leaves us “well and whole”.

The theologian Reinhold Neibuhr wrote,

“For all [our] centuries of experience,

[we] have not yet learned how to live together

without compounding [our] vices

and covering each other

with mud and with blood.”

(Moral Man, Immoral Society)

And we most certainly

“compound our vices”

when we give in to

the furies of fear and hatred.

The Lord is my light and my salvation;

whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;

of whom shall I be afraid?...

…I believe that I shall see

the goodness of the Lord

in the land of the living….

Wait for the Lord;

be strong,

and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!

(Psalm 27)

AMEN

The Epistle to Manassas

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

July 17, 2016

You’ve Got Mail

The Epistle to Manassas

The Apostle Paul wrote letters, many letters—

letters to Christian communities in Rome,

in Corinth,

in Philippi,

in the Galatian region of Asia.

Paul wrote to the Christian communities

in those and other towns and cities,

to provide instruction,

guidance,

encouragement;

sometimes a gentle rebuke,

sometimes a not-so-gentle rebuke.

Paul’s letters are timeless;

words that guide us even today.

Read through his letters,

and it is as though Paul was writing to us,

you and me,

our church,

this body of Christ here in Manassas.

Imagine if Paul had written a letter to us—

an “Epistle to Manassas”.

If he had written a letter to us,

it probably would have sounded like this:

To all God’s beloved in Manassas,

who are called to be saints:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father

and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I thank God through Jesus

for every one of you.

People everywhere keep telling me about

your lives of faith,

and every time I hear them, I thank God.

Here’s what I want you to do, with God’s help:

Take your everyday, ordinary life—

your sleeping, eating, going-to-work,

and walking-around life—

and place it before God as an offering.

Embracing what God does for you

is the best thing you can do for God.

Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture

that you fit into it without even thinking.

Instead, fix your attention on God.

You’ll be changed from the inside out.

Readily recognize what [God] wants from you,

and quickly respond to it.

Unlike the culture around you,

always dragging you down to

its level of immaturity,

God brings out the best in you,

[and] develops well-formed maturity in you.

The only accurate way to understand ourselves

is by what God is,

and by what [God] does for us,

not by what we are

and what we do for him.

[We] are like the various parts of a human body.

Each part gets its meaning

from the body as a whole,

not the other way around.

The body we’re talking about

is Christ’s body of chosen people.

Each of us finds our meaning and function

as a part of [Christ’s] body.

But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe,

we wouldn’t amount to much, would we?

So since we find ourselves fashioned into

all these excellently formed and

marvelously functioning parts in Christ’s body,

let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be,

without enviously or pridefully

comparing ourselves with each other,

or trying to be something we are [not].

[So], if you help, just help,…

don’t take over;

if you teach, stick to your teaching;

if you give encouraging guidance,

be careful that you don’t get bossy;

If you’re put in charge, don’t manipulate;

if you’re called to give aid to people in distress,

keep your eyes open and be quick to respond;

if you work with the disadvantaged,

don’t let yourself get irritated with them

or depressed by them.

Keep a smile on your face.

Love from the center of who you are;

don’t fake it.

Be good friends who love deeply;

practice playing second fiddle.

Don’t burn out;

keep yourselves fueled and aflame.

Be alert servants of the Master,

cheerfully expectant.

                      

Don’t quit in hard times;

pray all the harder.

Help the needy;

be inventive in hospitality.

Bless your enemies;

no cursing under your breath.

Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy;

share tears when they’re down.

Get along with each other;

don’t be stuck-up.

Make friends with nobodies;

don’t be the great somebody.

Don’t hit back;  

discover beauty in everyone.

If you can, [try to] get along with everybody.

Don’t insist on getting even;

…that’s not for you to do.

“I’ll do the judging,” says God.

“I’ll take care of it.”

Our Scriptures tell us that

if you see your enemy hungry,

go buy that person lunch,

or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink.

Your generosity will surprise him with goodness.

Don’t let evil get the best of you;

get the best of evil by doing good.

Welcome with open arms fellow believers

who don’t see things the way you do.

And don’t jump all over them every time

they do or say something you don’t agree with—

even when it seems that

they are strong on opinions

but weak in the faith department...

Treat them gently….

Every time you criticize someone,

you condemn yourself.

It takes one to know one.

Judgmental criticism of others

is a well-known way of escaping detection

of your own crimes and misdemeanors.

But God isn’t so easily diverted.

He sees right through all such smoke screens

and holds you to what you’ve done.

Eventually, we’re all going to end up

kneeling side by side in the place of judgment,

facing God.

Your critical and condescending ways

aren’t going to improve your position there one bit

…So tend to your knitting.

You’ve got your hands full just taking care of

your own life before God….

So let’s agree to use all our energy

in getting along with each other.

Help others with encouraging words;

don’t drag them down by finding fault …

Cultivate your own relationship with God,

but don’t impose it on others…

Each one of us needs to look after

the good of the people around us,

asking ourselves, “How can I help?”

That’s exactly what Jesus did.

He didn’t make it easy for himself

by avoiding people’s troubles,

but waded right in and helped out. …

[So] may our dependably steady

and warmly personal God

develop maturity in you

so that you get along with each other

as well as Jesus gets along with us all.

Then we’ll be a choir—

not our voices only,

but our very lives singing in harmony

in a stunning anthem

to the God and Father of our [Lord] Jesus!

Reach out and welcome one another

to God’s glory.

Jesus did it;

now you do it!

[Remember:] This resurrection life

you received from God

is not a timid, grave-tending life.

It’s adventurously expectant!

Friends, keep up your prayers for us.

And make sure this letter gets read

to all the brothers and sisters.

Don’t leave anyone out.

I couldn’t be more proud of you,

and I rejoice over you!

May God himself,

the God who makes everything holy and whole,

make you holy and whole,

…spirit, soul, and body—

…[And may] the amazing grace of Jesus Christ

be with you all!

These are Paul’s words to us,

Paul’s words to all followers of Jesus Christ,

not from a newly discovered “Epistle to Manassas,”

but from scripture,

by way of Eugene Peterson’s “The Message”.

That means they are not only Paul’s words to us,

to you and me,

they are the Word of the Lord.

AMEN  

This sermon is an adaptation

of Paul’s writings,

principally from his letter to the Romans,

as paraphrased by Eugene Peterson

in “The Message”.