Spiritual Olympics Week One: Carrying the Torch

Spiritual Olympics Week One: Carrying the Torch – Rev. Kevin Anderson

Our Scripture this morning comes from the Gospel of Matthew

chapter 5 verse 14-16:  let us hear these words of Scripture:

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.

No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket,

but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house . 

In the same way, let your light shine before others,

so that they may see your good works and give glory

to your Father in heaven.

This is the word of God, for the people of God.

Thank be to God:

Well next week the opening ceremonies for the 2012

Summer Olympics in London England begin. 

And during the next few weeks athletes from around the world

will represent their countries with pride, in more than thirty six

sporting events ranging from Sailing, Archery, Canoeing, cycling, gymnastics, swimming, diving and many more! 

The United States Olympic Committee will be sending a total of 530 athletes to the Games in London, 269 women and 261 men,

and there are a lot of chances for our atheletes to metal in

one or more of these events. 

AN ANCIENT HISTORY

It is very easy to forget that the Olympic games have a long history.  since the games are all televised now,

and before that a person could hear them over radiowaves,

it is easy to think only think of the Olympics in the modern age,

yet the richness and wealth of these games goes back

about 776 years before the birth of Christ, started in Greece,

held every four years in Olympia.

The games brought athletes together from many different

city-states around the county, these games like today

were held every four years, during the Olympics these city states

held truces and stopped war with each other

to honor the celebration of these games.

This way the athletes could travel to and from the games in safety.

Unlike the Gold, silver and Bronze metals we give to our Olympic athletes today, the prizes for those that were victorious were

wreaths of laurel leaves.  There were also fewer events during those early games, and another ovious difference is that the

ancient Greeks did not have boxes of Weaties that showcased images

of their victorious Olympic atheletes,

Yet we have more connection to the ancient and modern

than one might think.  One thing that has connected us together;

the ancient and modern games, has been in how we honor and praise the victories of our athletes, chronicling their victories

and accomplishments for the generations. 

Also another connection between the ancient and modern Olympic games is the Olympic flame.  The flame represented the fire that was stolen from Zeus by Prometheus,

the flame kept burning for the entire ceremony. 

One misconception we have however is that the torch carrying relay that opens our Olympic games did not originate in Greece.  Unfortunately the passing of the torch opening relay,

was actually created in Nazi Germany for propaganda purposes,

yet when the Olympic games were held after the war, the nations decided to transform this relay into a symbol

of peace and goodwill between nations. 

After WWII it became called a “rely for Peace” 

as runners carried the flame through war-torn Europe.

Today, the Flame of the Olympics is already traveling around

the world, it was lit in Greece, and will have traveled 70 days

across Europe, carried by 8,000 inspirational torchbearers,

traveling throughout 1,000 cities, bringing the light,

the flame of peace with them.

THIS Relay, the torch that travels throughout the countryside,

the Olypmic flame which lasts throughout the event,

Reminds me of something more Biblical,

it reminds me that we are called to be torchbearers for Christ,

You see, WE are to be torchbearers

bringing the light of Christ to all those dark places of the world,

and to all places not just the dark ones,

as we celebrate the power of transforming power of Christ.

Scripture reminds us that Jesus is the Light of the World,

In the Gospel of John, Scripture says that in Jesus,

“was life, and the life was the light of all people.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. ... The true light, which enlightens everyone,

was coming into the world.”

And in the 12 Chapter of John Jesus tells his Disciples that,

"The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light."

These Scriptures tell us not only God’s mission in Jesus and in his words but also OUR SHARED Mission to the world.

That when we have that light, the light of Christ burning within us,

we must carry it with us, ahead of us, in front us,

we must wear it proudly, as Paul says in Romans,

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power

of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes:

first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

We must say proudly, that “I am not ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL”

In our Scripture reading this morning: from Matthew  5:14-16

Jesus has been preaching all around Galelee, and as Jesus

moves through Galelee the crowds follow him, so Jesus finds a place on the side of a mountain where he can see the fullness of the crowd as he preaches what has become known to us as the Sermon on the Mount.

In this sermon Jesus teaches the people about the ways of Discipleship, and CONTINUES TO set up God’s mission in the world through Jesus’s words his life and his teachings, as we learn from this Scripture this morning, Jesus tells us that we are the light of the world and just like a city on a hill cannot be hidden from our view,

we are not to hide the light of Christ from the view of others.

In this first part, we learn that while Jesus is the light of the world,

we become part the light, when we have the light burning within us.  We become part of the body of Christ, and in result become a light

for others.

Just like a wildfire, when a fire grows, when it moves,

almost anything can become engulfed in the flames,

anything as small as a pine needle to a full blown tree

can be set ablaze. 

Everything that catches flame, becomes part of the whole fire,

it becomes part of a movement, a spreading fire, caught by the wind,

it moves grows and reaches new heights,

We are a part of the fire,

We are part of the flame 

We are part of the tongues of fire,

As the Holy Spirit moves through us,

Guides us, and sends us forward as torchbearers for Christ.

We are NOT to keep it to ourselves,

YET even if we try, it does not work,

because the power of God’s eternal fire cannot be contained

to one torch alone.

If we really are engulfed in the fire of love which is Christ,

like a city on a hill, people will see. 

People will know.  And people will say
HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD.

The Gospel of John tells us

that we are to let our light shine before others,

that they can see our faith in action,

they will see us be an active part of the transformation of the world,

as we glorify our God by helping others, through our active faith.

Because Faith and Religion are ACTIVE

John Wesley once said in a sermon that our Religion

is not a solitary religion,

that our faith is not a solitary faith. 

That when we know the truth and when the truth lives within us,

We become part of that eternal Flame.

As the Olympic Torch makes it way towards London this week, as the flame of peace prepares to provide light to all those who have come together as one representing with pride their countries and all those that have come before,

“Will you be torch bearers for Christ?”,

Will you take that torch from town to town?,

Will you share it with others?

Will you pass on the torch that more people may share

in the truth of God’s grace and love for us all?

Because our faith, and our Hope is not just for ourselves,

but for the world, and when we are NOT ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL
when we wear our medal crosses which speak to our eternal rewards in heaven and when we give our lives to a greater purpose,

we participate in a “RELAY FOR LIFE”,

for lives to be transformed for Jesus,

Let us not be ashamed of the Gospel and let us go from this place feeling that burning flame in our hearts,

 LET US PRAY:
Gracious and Loving God, set our hearts on fire for you,

stoke the flames of your Holy Spirit in us

so that we might be torchbears of your eternal flame.

It’s in your name we pray
Amen

 

A Dark Night Rises: Reflections on Public Shootings, Victims and Prayers

A Dark Night Rises: Public Shootings, Victims, and Prayers

May 20, 1988, a mentally ill women named Laurie Dann walked into Hubbard Woods Elementary School in Winnetka, Illinois, armed with three handguns and shot one boy in a washroom then entered my classroom. She opened fire on us, small children taking a test about bicycle safety. She killed one boy by the name of Nicholas Corwin and wounded four others before departing to a nearby home, shooting an adult who lived there, and then taking her own life. That day back in May 1988, everyone in Winnetka was a victim, everyone in the nation was a victim, and the country stopped for a moment of silence.

Since that day, more people have entered the ranks of “survivor” of shooting incidents. And every time a public shooting happens, I am taken back to that day in 1988. It is there that my own story unites with all the new stories of violence and pain.
I am reminded of the Scripture about the death of Lazarus. Mary and Martha’s brother Lazarus is sick. Jesus is not with the family, but on his way back to Bethany when he hears the news that Lazarus has died. Mary and Martha are upset that Jesus was not there:

Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. And He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!” And some of them said, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?” John 11:32-37

Shared history of violence

Friday morning, July 20, 2012, I woke up after returning home at 3:30 a.m. from the midnight premiere of Batman: The Dark Night Rises, and my wife shared the tragic news. At the same time I was in my screening of Batman, in another midnight showing in Aurora, Colorado, a man calling himself “the Joker” went into the crowded movie theater and shot and killed 12 people, wounding 59. I was deeply saddened at the news.
The ranks of victims in our country have grown again. We have entered into another chapter in our shared history of violence. Whether or not we were in a movie theater, at a mall, or under a classroom table during a shooting, we have all suffered. We are still grieving those we have lost and our shared stories and history connect in new ways as we grieve.
Our world has changed so much, and it is sad that we have to fear shootings when we go to the mall, a movie theater, the gas station, a college campus, an elementary school, and other places where acts of violence can occur. Where can we go to escape violence around us?
One of the hardest parts of this particular event is that the violence that occurred at the theater in Aruora mirrored the violence in the movie. Within the first few minutes of the movie we are introduced to one of the major villains, Bane, who is very smart, very calculated, and a cold-blooded killer who opens fire on innocent people to serve his own goals, part of a calculated plain to bring more pain, death, and destruction to a city full of innocent people. Bane represents the fear, terrorism, anger, and violence that we try to counteract in our own lives. I cannot imagine how the director Christopher Nolan or the cast members are feeling after this horrific event. They created an important film with a social statement about rising in hope over the shadows of terror, loss, greed, corruption, poverty, and so much more.

Superheroes and hope

Growing up as a survivor of a mass shooting, I needed heroes in my life. I became an avid reader of comic books — X-Men, the Avengers, Superman, Green Lantern, and of course Batman. The idea that a superhero could swoop in and save us in our darkest of moments helped me learn not to be afraid of the dark.
There is a reason Batman is called the “Dark Knight.” His origins are linked to a terrible tragedy. As a child, Bruce Wayne (Batman) saw his mother and father shot in front of him, in a dark alley after a night at the theater. Bruce grew up as a survivor of a terrible shooting. He decided that he would become a symbol for a city that needed a hero, as he states in Batman Begins, “I’m going to show the people of Gotham that the city doesn’t belong to the criminals and the corrupt. People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy. I can’t do this as Bruce Wayne. A man is just flesh and blood and can be ignored or destroyed. But as a symbol … as a symbol, I can be incorruptible, everlasting.”
The Dark Knight Rises shows us there is hope in the darkest of hours. We live in a world that needs a Batman, a “Dark Knight” to fight the darkness when it engulfs us. And while we are not always present in others’ times of tragedy it does not mean we do not feel one another’s pain. As Jesus wept for Lazarus, we weep for each other.
In Psalm 130, the Psalmist cries out for God in the midst of darkness and fear:

Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord;
Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
To the voice of my supplications …
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
And in His word I do hope.
My soul waits for the Lord More than those who watch for the morning –
Yes, more than those who watch for the morning.

Like the Psalmist, we too have been in places where we have cried out to God, we have waited for God to deliver us, and in that our shared story as a society is also a shared history of Grace. In the midst of tragedy and pain God calls us together as comfort for one another. God is there as well in the darkest of times giving comfort and shedding tears of compassion. And as a country and world we still come together to honor the fallen, engraving their names, bringing flowers, sharing stories of love and loss as one people.
In these times of darkness, we might wait as watchmen wait for the morning. In the morning, we rise from the ashes, from the pain, from our despair because we are not alone, and like any good superhero story, good always finds a way to break the darkest of nights and welcome the bright new morning.
My prayers are with all involved. May we rise to know hope. 

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Stories from the Workplace (An Easter Sunrise Sermon)

Stories from the Workplace Rev. Kevin Anderson

(Sunrise, Easter Sermon)

Woke up this past Thursday Morning at the Red Rabbit Inn located in the Choctaw Nation of Mississippi. Woke up and was about to play a set of songs for our morning devotion with 17 youth and 10 adults, before setting out to another day of mission at an elderly community center as well as leading worship for the Choctaw Children during our VBS program.

While drinking a cup of coffee we received news that there entire area was a tornado watch. Looking out the windows of the hotel’s morning room,

you could see that bad weather come rolling in from all sides of the sky, the sky became dark at 7am, and as we began to play our music and read our scriptures,

the rain started to come pouring down, mixed with Hail, it came down in sheets sideways hitting the cars parked outside, as the trees were whipping through the wind. Interms of severe conditions, it seemed like the only thing we did not feel was the earth shake beneath our feet.

For the Guards at the tomb Easter Morning, their midnight to dawn work-shift was coming to a close, the one order that they were tasked with was almost completed; to stand guard at the entrance of a stone tomb, and make sure that no one came in…or…Out!!!

The tomb, they were standing watch over carved out of the rock was blocked by a massive rounded stone pressed and sealed into a groove cut along the edges of the tomb entrance, blocking out all entry or departure from this stone cold grave. They must of thought that, “There was NO WAY,…. We could fail at this job!, this order was in the bag, carried out, signed, stamped and sealed.” Maybe they could go home, take some comp-time and relax before having to clock in again and report back to the Governor. Unfortunately for them and fortunately for the world, this “thought, did not come to pass, Instead these Guard’s felt the earth shake beneath their feet, and that’s when they became witnesses to the Resurrection.

Biblical scholars tell us that these guards were enlisted from all over the Roman Empire, because of this the guards would not have come from the Jewish community but were part of the Roman military. Israel was under Roman occupation during that time, so Roman soldiers would follow the instructions of the Roman Governor of that particular province. Jerusalem fell under Pontus Pilate who was also a decorated soldier, as well as politician turned Governor.

While occupying Israel, these guards would have been familiar with some of the beliefs of the Jewish people; and with all of the events unfolding during what we now refer to as Holy Week, The guards would have heard about the trial, death and crucifixion of Christ, they might have even been part of it all,…

In Scripture the Gospel of Matthew is the only one of the four Gospel’s that hone in on the guard’s role in the Resurrection story, The Guard’s entry into the Resurrection story begins with the chief priests and elders going meeting with Governor Pilate after the Crucifixion of Christ. The chief priests’ concerns and fears around Christ and his Disciples did not end with Christ’s death on the Cross, as they explain to Pilate, “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’

What probably added to the chief priest’s and elder’s frustration was the fact that one of their own, a wealthy member of the Sanhedrin by the name of Joseph of Aramthea had become a follower of Christ, Joseph of Aramthea had already come before Pilate and requested to have the body of Christ, which Pilate granted to him. Joseph had taken Christ’s body, wrapped it in clean linens, and placed His body in Joseph’s new tomb, which he himself had carved out of the rock.

This account in addition to what Christ had foretold, made the Priests Nervous. While these priests did not believe that Christ was the Messiah, they were still worried that His disciples would steal Christ’s body in the night and claim that Jesus did in fact RISE from the Grave after three days, claiming to have fulfilled prophecy. So with these fears and concerns the Chief Priests ask for a Guard. The request which the priests and elders asked of the governor

was for Pilate to order a guard, (a group of Roman Soldiers) to watch over the tomb and make sure these things, would not come to pass. Of course we can see the great irony in this part of the story, as we know that a hundred guards or a hundred stones would not keep Christ from the Resurrection.

This brings us back to the morning the earth shook, and the stone was rolled away. If you can imagine, here we have these guards, who had been present throughout the night, nothing had happened, not one Disciple came to try and steal the body of Christ, the Guard’s were about to punch the clock, fill out a report, and go home, but as Scripture tells us, “After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

For the guard’s, this experience must have been like being hit with a head -on collision. The earth quaked, they thought their eyes were deceiving them, they could not move, what they were seeing before their eyes was a Miracle, unwrapping, unfolding before them. They went into shock.

Still,…being in a state of shock did not prevent the guards

from seeing and hearing the rest of these events unfold. They see two women come to the tomb, a younger woman, Mary Magdalene and older woman, Mary the mother of Jesus. These devoted women, came to the tomb, to mourn and to grieve, and to Anoint Christ’s body yet instead they are confronted by a miracle.

The guard’s see this Angel sitting on the rock, which the Angel moved, like it was nothing, away from the entrance to the tomb, and the guards hear the angel telling the women,

“Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.

Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” Now while the Gaurds were still at the tomb, the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

As the women go off to tell the Good News to the Disciples

that their beloved Messiah has Risen, Scripture tell us that SOME of the guard that was present at the tomb, went into the city and reported to the chief priests to give their account of the story, “ their report about What had happened on the job”, **the interesting thing to note here is why these guard’s

went to the priests and not Pilate, their Governor first….

The Guards were not employed by the Sanhedrin, mostly they thought little of them, as the occupiers, they could call out any one of the Jewish people anytime they wanted to, just as a show of their power and authority. A good example of this, is how they pulled Simon of Cyrene out of the crowd to help carry the cross for Jesus towards Calvary. So WHY would the Guard’s report back to THEM?

…I think the Answer is that this was the last report that they would want to present him with. They did not want to fill this one out. If you think about it, they failed at the ONE task that they were given! The body is gone; epic failure!! You can imagine what it must have been like to have to file a report like that. This sort of thing does not happen on the job everyday! I mean we all have had some interesting stories from the workplace, but to witness these events; to witness the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior, fulfilling all prophecy, conquering sin and death and giving us assurance of our own Resurrection with Christ, living life eternally with him,…well that was a whole different ballgame. Honestly I don’t think there is a single event in History besides the Birth of Christ that I would want to witness more, BUT for these Roman Guards, this spelled TROUBLE.

When SOME of the guards report back to the priests, we can imagine that the priests would not be exactly happy with this news. After hearing these accounts from the guard the priests come together with all of the elders to figure out their next course of action, to STOP the word of Jesus’ Resurrection spreading to the people. So the priests and elders decided to PAY the guards money to change their story. They were GOOD at paying people off, they had already done it with Judas and that seemed to work out fine, so they would pay these guard’s to give a different account of what they had “witnessed”. This NEW version of events, would be simple, “while the guards were sleeping, in the middle of the night, the Disciples of Christ came and stole the body from the Tomb.

They would let the story of what they feared would happen, the very reason why they went to Pilate in the first place be what really happened, (more irony) This New story still did not make the guards look any better, they would not be portrayed as the heroes in this story but rather as complete failures.

these “night guards” had to say they fell asleep on the job. Probably not exactly the story they would want to share, I mean it looks pretty bad when the Governor gives you the simple task of making sure no one goes in or out of a sealed tomb, your only job, as the “watchmen” and you fall asleep. It would be safe to assume that they would NOT remain night watchmen very much longer! which makes one conclude that the amount of their settlement with the Chief Priests and elders was fairly substantial!

In the aftermath, you have to wonder what happened to

those guards on duty that night and early morning, what happened to those that came before the Priests and those that ran away. These guard’s truly were some of the few people that witnessed the first Easter Sunday. They were there when Jesus rose up from the Grave. Besides Mary and Jesus’ mother, none of the disciples were present, but these guards were, these guards who had heard about, watched or maybe had even participated at some capacity in the arrest, trial and death of our Savoir. These guards had front row seats to the Resurrection. So did the settlement pay off in the end?? or did some of the guard’s present end up becoming followers of Christ that Easter Sunday so long ago? The very fact that this account exists gives us the hope that these Guards were affected by this miracle – that the pay off did not keep them quiet from sharing this ultimate story from the workplace…… May we too feel the power of this miracle this Easter and everyday, may we experience the awe of the earth shaking, the empty tomb, and may we share the good news that “Christ has Risen, He has Risen indeed, Amen.