I feel like I lost a brother when Chuck passed away on June 28, 2021. Pastor Chuck was diagnosed with cancer in 2021 and lived with cancer for many years but this past year became difficult. He passed away from multiple types of cancer and tumors on June 28, at midnight in California and 4 pm, Japan time. We miss him but memories of him lives on in our hearts and in the lives of people he touched. Chuck left a legacy.
Chuck and I both enjoyed serving the church and had the best time batting ministry ideas off one another. I miss my brother in Christ dearly. Chuck and I have a few things in common. He and I almost have the same birthday. His was on January 26, 1959 and mine was January 27, 1959 so we were born the same year just a day apart. I’m older. Another thing in common was that we were both from California. (Kelly is also from California.) Chuck or his full name was Charles David Grafft was actually born in Charlotte, N. Carolina but grew in California –in Sacramento but mostly Carlsbad which is near San Diego. One story which I learned was that in high school in Carlsbad, he flew into the field in a helicopter when running for class president. And of course he won!!! Chuck was a strong proponent of students taking a gap year. For Chuck, he took 6 gaps years throughout college when he went to Israel, France, Austria, and all over Europe. He had many adventures everywhere which he delighted in telling us! There are just too many to recall. He met his wonderful wife and spiritual partner Kelly in 1980 at University of California in Davis. They met because they had an economic and history class together. They studied in the library where she said they did more laughing than actual studying! Both of their majors were the same – they were International Relations majors. Chuck and Kelly were married in June of 1986. But actually, they got married on June 12, 1986 was when they eloped and then they had a church wedding on August 17, 1986. They started FBC 34 years ago. FBC was actually started to help missionaries to get their favorite foods from back in the US and expanded to ex-pats then Japanese who lived abroad and liked US food then to just anyone and everyone. Not just food but also English teaching materials, party supplies, books, magazines, all kinds of stuff. They had a mailing list of over 10,0000 members! People working at FBC said it was a wonderful place to be and like a family. community. (Misako or who they fondly call Miko was with them as the office manager.) They also had a very good reputation of truly helping their customers. Chuck and Kelly had four daughters (and four granddaughters). But they also numerous foster children! Maybe 20 plus foster kids since some stayed for years and some stayed for shorter periods of time. They always had people at their homes! Chuck and Kelly attended and were ordained at a predominantly African American church - Antioch Church of Long Beach, California. (The Celebration of Life Service for Chuck was on July 25th.) I invite you to make donations to the “CKG Ministry Fund” at that church or make a donation to Kelly through Kobe Union Church to the “Chuck and Kelly Ministry Fund.” (Contact either of these churches if you need the information.) Chuck and Kelly were involved with outreach ministry at Antioch Church. Both were involved with prison ministry. They joined our pastoral ministry team almost 3 years and when the pandemic hit, Chuck was able to help us with our online ministries. Kelly and Chuck were looking forward to coming back to KUC. But the pandemic hit and they had to stay in California. Chuck saw this crisis as also an opportunity. He said we’d get through it and things would be “Better than before!” “Better than before!” was their slogan. It is from Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. – Romans 8:28 Now Chuck really liked the Amplified Bible which says Romans 8:28 this way, “And we know [with great confidence] that God [who is deeply concerned about us] causes all things to work together [as a plan] for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His plan and purpose.“ Chuck and Kelly’s slogan – “Better than before” comes from this Bible verse - Romans 8:28. Chuck also encouraged many people with this slogan “Better than Before” Chuck discipled so many people and was also our Pastor of Spiritual Formation. Chuck helped many people grow spiritually. This was another of his many gifts. Chuck was generous with his time and money and prayers for people. He also shared food with those in need. He donated food from his store, Foreign Buyers Club, to places where disasters had hit like the Hanshin earthquake on January 17, 1995 and the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear power plant meltdown in Tohoku on March 11, 2011. I was still living in Tokyo after the Tohoku crisis but called him to ask for to ask for food and treats for children in an evacuation shelter in Ishinomkai and he gave food from FBC. He was a generous giver. He never hesitates to give to those who were in need. He liked walking around different places in the Los Angeles area with a $100 bill in one pocket and a $20 in the other and depend on how the Spirit led him, would give money out form one or the other pocket. He also kept cards with scriptures verses on them and would give those out to people if he felt nudged by the Spirit. I also remember him saying to someone or even with me he would share “a word” after praying for that person – a word he got from God for that person. He also had a gift of healing people and not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually. He shared so many stories in his sermons and you can go to our church website, scroll down to past services, to watch and listen to his past messages. Pastor Chuck had gifts of leadership, hospitality, evangelism, and could talk to anyone and make them feel special. He had charisma and he was genuine in his love for people. Chuck took to heart Jesus’ command to love each other. At KUC, Pastor Chuck led the communication and tech team, helped with discipleship, spiritual growth, evangelism, helped make a KUC church survey, taught the One Year Bible Class, helped facilitate the hot issues Bible study on hot topics in the church. He enjoyed our church’s diversity and unity and encouraged us to see these as gifts. Pastor Chuck helped us with visioning and an action plan our church’s future. He loved wearing the t-shirt “Be the Church” which has a cute story behind it so go back and listen to his sermons online on our church website. He told us and you can see this on our church website “ABC: Actively Being the Church by actively Loving God and our Neighbors.” Chuck said, “Our agenda should be the same agenda Jesus had, ‘Love God and love your neighbor.’ He loved people as they were but he was not afraid to challenge them for them to grow spiritually. Early on in the pandemic, Chuck was participating from California in our ZOOM lunches with our youth group. For him it was ZOOM dinners and he often had the family dog who was more like his dog, Bruce, who eventually became our KUC mascot since he also often sat next to Chuck when he preached online. I remember once how he really encouraged the youth to watch the movie “Selma” about Martin Luther King, Jr. He wanted our youth to expand their horizons! In that movie Mahalia Jackson sang a gospel hymn to MLK, Jr. “Precious Lord Take My Hand” which you will hear sung in a moment. Chuck liked Christian music and seemed to really like gospel music! ☺ When we were meeting in person and they were living here in the caretaker’s apartment they fondly called “Le Cachot” (“Le Cachot de Lumenaria”) they would open their home or stay after worship to pray with anyone who needed prayers. Chuck loved people and loved helping people, and especially praying for people. Kelly said that Chuck (in God’s economy) was the richest man in world because his investment was in people. That is how he lived his life – investing in people and loving God. There is more I could say but we will have a time of sharing and remembering after this service for those of you who wish to share your own precious memory of Chuck. In closing, I want you all to know that I believe in eternal life in heaven. I believe we go home to God. I believe Chuck is now home in heaven with God. But I also believe that Chuck has eternal life on earth because Chuck left a legacy. Those who die are alive in our memories because of hope and because of how they changed us and because of how they loved and lived. We had the joy of knowing them. At the end of life, what really matters is not what we bought but what we built; not what we what we got but what we shared; Not our competence but our character; And not our success, but our significance. Live a life that matters. Like Chuck, we can live a life of love. This is what our brother in Christ, Pastor Chuck, would want us to do – live a life of love. So let us love one another. Amen.
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It’s great to be with you at KUC again, even if remotely. As the theme for August has been “Resting in the Triune God,” I thought it would be good for us to take a look at this mysterious concept we call the “Trinity.” While we can never fully comprehend it, we can get a better understanding of this fundamental Christian teaching, and so I’d like to attempt that this morning.
In our Scripture reading from I John, John declares that “God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.” As John’s message focuses on these concepts of light and darkness, I’d like for us to take a look at what these terms mean. What does it mean that God is light? We all know from our everyday experience what light is and how you can both have “too much of a good thing” — like on a summer day at the beach when you get sunburned — as well as not enough, like on dreary winter days or at night when you’re looking for something in the dark. But are we talking about that kind of physical light when we say that God is light? Is God a bunch of photons? Well, obviously not. So, what kind of light is God, then? In the remaining chapters of 1 John, John explains what kind of “light” God is, and if you distill the essence of what he’s saying, it becomes clear that there are three primary aspects to that light. These can be summed up with the words, “love,” “truth” and “life.” These form a kind of “trinity” that closely relates to the triune nature of God — namely, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. So as we endeavor to “walk in the light of the Triune God, it’s important for us to increase our understanding of the concept of the Trinity itself. In other words, I want to “throw some light” on the subject. There are numerous references to love in this amazing letter that John wrote to all who would follow Jesus. Perhaps the best known is the simple phrase, “God is love,” which appears twice in chapter 4. We could spend the whole sermon just contemplating on this one aspect, but I have so much else I want to touch on that I’ll just sum it up with the essence of what John is saying, namely that we are to show God’s love to each other in all that we do. John says that we are only able to do this because of God’s gift of love to us. In 4:19, he says, “We love because he first loved us.” When put in terms of this Trinitarian format I mentioned, we can see that it is God the Father that takes the primary role in expressing God’s love to us. John, in his Gospel, states this in what is perhaps the best-known Bible verse of all, John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” There are so many sections of this letter that focus on the love of God, but I’ll just mention one that clearly expresses love in terms of the Father. Chapter 3 begins with, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” Since I want to focus on the Trinity and how the attributes of God are manifested in the Trinity, let’s quickly move on to the second aspect of God’s “light” — that of Truth. In chapter 5, verse 6, it says, “And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.” Here, then, we see that in this Trinitarian formula, it is the Holy Spirit that takes on the primary role in expressing God’s truth to us. As to who the Spirit is testifying the truth about, it is, of course, Jesus Christ, who John records as having said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” And so this leads right into the third aspect of God’s light, which is “life.” Concerning the testimony of the Holy Spirit about what is true, John records in chapter 5, verses 11-13 of his letter, “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” So, while all three persons in the Godhead are involved in all three aspects of “God’s light,” these verses show that God the Son takes the primary role in mediating God’s life to us. I find the concept of light really fascinating — perhaps because I majored in physics in college. But I think even those of you who didn’t study physics or the other sciences will be intrigued by the amazing consistency between this “trinitarian light” of God and the physical light that God created to play a major role in providing us with an environment that makes our physical lives possible. Actually, there are many features of light and the natural world in general that express this “trinitarian formula,” and in fact, there are so many that it just seems that God is reflecting his triune nature in the way he created the natural world. Many of these provide us with easily understandable analogies to help us picture the Trinitarian nature of God. The sun is a good example. It exists as a hot ball of gas, but we perceive it by the light it sends us, and we experience it through the workings of the energy it gives us. Many aspects of the physical sun are analogous to God. Just as we cannot fly our spaceship up and land on the sun, neither can we nonchalantly approach a holy God on our own merits. Either way, we would be consumed in the process. Thus, in this aspect, the physical sun is analogous to God the Father and his holiness. Now, without the energy the sun provides, there could be no life, and in the spiritual realm, the same is true. We only can know about the sun through the light it sheds on our world, and similarly, God reveals himself to us through his Son, Jesus Christ, who referred to himself as “the light of the world.” And just as it is the electromagnetic radiation coming from the sun that powers all of life, so it is in the spiritual realm, as God works in his Spirit in and through us to bring about and to nourish spiritual life. Our world is literally filled with examples of triuneness. Of course, no analogy can perfectly describe God, and so there is always a danger in taking an analogy too far and thus coming up with a defective understanding of God. Nevertheless, if we keep that in mind, I do think these analogies with physical light help us to better envision the triune nature of the one true God. Before we come back to the subject of God’s light, I want to give you further examples from the natural world that illustrate God’s triune nature. First of all, our very existence as physical beings is based on this same concept of a three-in-one “tri-unity.” God created us to be a kind of trinity of being, as we are made up of a physical body, a mind with its intellect, emotions and will, and an eternal spirit made in the very image of God. Without all three being united in one, our existence as human beings would not be possible. In so many ways, the reality of existence itself plays out in a kind of trinitarian framework — something that naturally fits with a theistic worldview. The main competitor to that, the worldview of naturalism, purports that there are only two basic components of reality — namely matter and energy. Everything can be reduced to “particles in motion” — in other words, to the laws of chemistry and physics. But the biblical worldview claims that in addition to matter and energy, there is one more basic component that is foundational, and that is information. John begins his gospel with the words, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made.” You could paraphrase that with, “In the beginning was information,” and without information to direct and constrain raw energy and matter, life would be impossible. This, then, brings up the question of where that information came from in the first place. If you think about it a moment, you realize that there has to be something that is an uncaused, eternal existence in order for there to be anything at all. There has to be an uncaused first cause. In order for contingent (or caused) entities to exist, there has to be at least one non-contingent entity for them to be contingent to. A materialist has to propose that either the universe itself is eternal (which we now know for a fact is not true), or that there is some physical state, such as the imagined “quantum foam,” that can generate universes by “quantum vacuum fluctuations” or some other such natural process that has itself eternally existed. (And don’t worry if you don’t understand what those terms mean. I certainly couldn’t explain them, and I doubt that the scientists who came up with them really understand them either!) Anyway, the point is that if there is no Mind — no eternal “Word”— then something like that “quantum foam” or whatever is the only option left. The two-level reality of matter and energy alone, however, just isn’t enough to explain our existence. That third level of information is the key. It is primary, and it points to the Mind — the eternal “Word” — behind it all. These three contingent properties — matter, energy, and information — form the “trinitarian” context of physical existence. Triuneness is also an integral part of the subatomic world. Atoms, for instance, are composed of three components, protons, neutrons and electrons. A further breakdown of these into their components likewise reveals a trinitarian structure. Neutrons and protons are each made up of three subatomic particles called “quarks.” If I continue to go on with such examples from the subatomic world, it would soon get much too technical for a sermon (if it isn’t already!), and so I’ll just mention that there are numerous other such properties of the subatomic world that are likewise categorized in threes or three pairs. The more you look at it, the more it seems that God is expressing his own Triune nature in the way he has constructed the universe and all that is in it, and that is the point I’m trying to make. Taking this into the spiritual realm, there is that great Christian triad that Paul refers to in I Cor. 13 — namely, “faith, hope and love.” Other spiritual attributes could also be listed, such as joy and peace, etc., but these are the basic three upon which all of the others depend. When we make Christ the Lord of our past, we receive faith — the faith to accept God’s forgiveness for all of our sins and shortcomings. When we make Christ the Lord of our present, we receive love — the perfect love that casts out all fear. And when we make Christ the Lord of our future, we receive hope — the hope we have in the promise of eternal life. So let us resolve to take care of our own triune nature. God has entrusted us with a physical body that he calls "the temple of the Holy Spirit,” and so we need to take care of it through proper nourishment, exercise and rest — another kind of “trinity.” God has given us a mind to use for his glory. We need to nourish it with continued learning, as we contemplate the many levels of triuneness in his creation. And God has created us with an eternal spirit made in his very image, and we are to strengthen that by nourishing our spirits through our daily walk with the Lord. This brings us back to the point with which we began this message, the light of God. Right after John says, “God is light and in him is no darkness at all,” he says in verse 7, “If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” So how are we to walk in the light as God does? We do this by applying the light of his Word to our daily lives. Another point we haven’t touched on yet is the opposite of light — namely darkness. What exactly is “darkness?” Does it exist in and of itself? Well, not in the ordinary sense of the term. Darkness is simply the absence of light, just as “cold” is the absence or lack of heat. Neither is a positive existence of some physical entity. You can always get brighter than bright, but you cannot get any darker than absolute darkness, just as you can’t get colder than absolute zero. But, again, these concepts are of physical light or a lack thereof, and so when we say that there is “no darkness in God,” we mean there is no lack of the light of God — namely his love, truth and life. John is emphasizing that we are to “walk in the light” and not try to avoid the light of God. In his Gospel, he says in John 3:19-21, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” Of course, no one can actually hide their deeds from God, and so even if someone attempts that, all they are doing is simply walking in a self-imposed darkness, since God sees everything. I like the way the author of Hebrews states it (4:13): “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” So, there is no place to hide, but if we trust in Christ, there is also no reason to even want to try to hide. For those who reject God’s offer through Christ’s atoning death on the cross, there is every reason to be afraid of death, but as John states, “Perfect love casts out all fear,” and that “perfect love” is God himself. I want to close with an illustration to help you understand this difficult concept of the Trinity. The key to understanding how the Trinity works is to realize that there are dimensions beyond the 3 dimensions of space and 1 dimension of time that we can experience. It is these extra dimensions that are available to God that makes his existence as a Triune being — three distinct persons in one being — possible. I have here two paper dolls that we will imagine to be living in a world of only 2 dimensions of space — that is, on a plane. Their world consists of only that plane and they cannot experience in any way the third dimension above or below that plane. We’ll call the blue one Mr. Flat and the pink one Mrs. Flat. As I hold these two in my hands, I can move them around in 3-D space, but let’s pretend that they are limited to just two dimensions, such as the top of a table. Since they cannot look down from above, when it comes to looking at each other, all they can see is the edge, which to them appears to be only a line. Thus, in order for Mr. Flat to get an idea of what his wife looks like, he will have to go around her measuring both the length of the line he sees together with the distance to each point on the line, and then with his 2-dimensional mind, he could theoretically calculate the outline of her shape. But since he cannot experience the vertical dimension, he still can’t really visualize what she would look like from outside of their plane of existence. His power to visualize her would be limited to their 2 dimensions, and thus she would forever appear to be only a line. I, however, have a one-dimensional advantage over him, and thus I can look down at her and instantly see everything about her. Not only can I see her outline, but also her insides, as it were. Likewise, I can approach them both very closely, but unless I actually penetrate into their plane of existence, they will have no way to know that I even exist. This is very similar to our situation with respect to God. But in this analogy, I have only a one-dimensional advantage over them. God has who-knows-how-many dimensions of advantage over us, and so in this respect, the difference between we humans and God is far greater than between these 2-dimensional beings that I have created and myself, as their “creator.” In this story of Mr. and Mrs. Flat, they can become aware of my presence only if I penetrate into their plane of existence in some way, but even then, they can only know a small part of me. If their plane of existence is the top of this table, for instance, then that means that as I sit here, they would perceive the two-dimensional cross-section of my three-dimensional body, which, of course, they would only see as a fairly long line. And by going around me, they could then calculate that it is a fairly large circle — one that unfortunately has been getting a bit bigger over the years! For the sake of this illustration, however, let’s say that I am totally outside of their 2 dimensions of existence, above them in the 3rd dimension that they cannot experience. Now, if I were to poke my finger into their plane of existence next to Mrs. Flat, for example, she would only see a small line. By going around this cross-section of my finger, she could then determine that the line she sees is actually a small circle. And because to them I am like God, we can imagine her going off to tell her friends, “God is a small circle.” But suppose, at some other time, I were to poke three fingers into their plane in the presence of Mr. Flat. He would, of course, conclude that I consist of three small circles, and he would then go around telling everyone, “God is three small circles.” We can then imagine the debate raging on, with Mrs. Flat going off to found the “Church of the One Circle” while Mr. Flat establishes the “Church of the Three Circles.” This, of course, is a parable of the human experience of God. If only Mr. and Mrs. Flat could see into that third dimension, they would see that both the one circle and the three circles were really the same, just being part of the one “me.” In a similar way, when God enters into our four dimensions of space and time, he reveals himself as three entities, but if we could only see into those extra dimensions that make up his realm, we would see that God is one and only one. That, then, is the essence of the Trinity. Let’s now think about what it means for the divine Creator of the universe to become a human being in the context of this analogy. In this analogy, I am the 3-dimensional creator of Mr. and Mrs. Flat and their 2-dimensional world. So, in order for me to become their Savior, I would have to somehow enter into their world and become one of them. In order to do that, I would have to give up one of my three spatial dimensions and, through a kind of incarnation, limit myself to their two dimensions of space. So, here I am in my “incarnated” state as a paper doll. While I am in their 2-dimensional world, I would be limited just like they are. I could tell them about that world of 3 dimensions that is so far beyond them, but they could only vaguely understand it — just like we have so much trouble trying to understand the totality of God in his many dimensions. You can see how all of this is analogous to what the eternal Christ did for us by temporarily divesting himself of all of the many extra dimensions he had from before the beginning of time and limiting himself to our 4 dimensions of existence. In becoming a human being, he was limited to being in just one place at one time. He could only carry on one conversation at a time, and he also required sleep and rest. In his human existence, he was physically limited in every way that we are. In his spirit, of course, he could still plug into his supernatural powers and perform his healing and other miracles. And after the Resurrection, Jesus took up again his full range of powers and dimensions. As Paul states in the second chapter of Philippians, the name of the resurrected Jesus “is above every name, and at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Likewise, because Jesus is no longer limited by our space and time dimensions, he can be right here among us at the same time he is everywhere else “two or three are gathered in his name.” I hope I have been able to “shine some light” for you on what it means for the Triune God to be our light. Jesus is the “light of the world,” and he has commanded his followers to “let their light shine before men so that they will glorify their Father in Heaven.” That light, of course, is not something we produce in ourselves, but is merely a reflection of God’s light — his love, truth and life. Our closing hymn, “Shine, Jesus, Shine,” fits right in with the theme of this message, speaking of God’s light and truth. “Lord, the light of your love is shining. In the midst of the darkness shining; Jesus, light of the world, shine upon us. Set us free by the truth you now bring us. Shine on me, shine on me.” So, let’s sing it together as our closing prayer, asking God to shine his glorious light into our lives and to “set our hearts on fire.” https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%205%3A12-15&version=NRSV
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%202%3A23-3%3A6&version=NRSV Growing up, summer was one of the few chances I had to visit my grandmother’s home out in the countryside of Nagano. I grew up in Chiba, just east of Tokyo, so traveling to my grandmother’s orchard in the south of Nagano took more than a few hours of travel. For me, going to grandma’s place for an extended time during the summer was very special. There I would hang out with all my cousins on my father’s side of the family. And among all of those kids, I was the youngest; I was the baby. So, my cousins took really good care of me, and my aunts, uncles, and grandma all spoiled me. They took me shoe shopping, took me outside to go play. They took the time to sit and talk with me, and listen to me. We would go down to the river and play in the water, eat fresh fruit and vegetables from local farms, and near the end of our time together, before we all went back home, we would set off some fireworks together. I really looked forward to spending time at my grandmother’s during the summer. Of course, time moves on, and some 20 or 25 years after these wonderful summers, in 2008, I married Don and we started a family. Our oldest child Claire, who is 9 now, was born when we still lived in Tokyo, but her two younger brothers, Noah and Liam, were both born while we lived in New Jersey. We had moved to New Jersey from Tokyo in order for Don to attend seminary but, thanks to the wonderfully mysterious ways in which God works, the opportunity opened up for me to attend seminary as well. So, instead of living there for only three years as we had intended, we ended up living there for six years while both Don and I took turns attending seminary. We were, and still are, so very grateful for the opportunity to study the Word of God so extensively during this season but, because we had left behind our full-time jobs in order to do so, life was, financially speaking, not easy. One of us was always studying full-time, which left the other holding greater responsibilities not just for working, but for taking care of the house and children as well. So, we both wound up taking a number of different part-time jobs, in order to make ends meet. Even though this was an incredibly difficult season for us, I can say with conviction that God was faithful and good to us. There were many times where we were not at all sure that we would be able to pay next month’s bills but, each time we came to that point, we were given just what we needed to get by. These times helped to increase our trust in and dependence on God. At the same time, this was the season in my life where I started to realize that taking time off is a luxury, and not a luxury that everyone can always easily afford. With the two of us holding multiple part-time jobs which, as is common in the United States, did not offer any sort of time off, paid or otherwise, I realized that there was no real way to take time off without severely crippling our already tightly-balanced finances. I realized that the yearly getaways of my childhood were an extra luxury that I might not be able to afford anymore. While for some, summer is a time of break, rest, and relaxation, for others, summer can be a time of greater labor, pain, hardship, and restlessness. For instance, for people in poverty, rest can seem like such a luxury; a privilege given to certain people, but not something given to them. Even if they might be lucky enough to get a day off from their physical work, their minds may be restless, thinking about how they are going to pay for tomorrow’s groceries, this month’s utilities, and upcoming school expenses. Rest can seem so very far away, as exotic and unattainable as a vacation to some tropical destination somewhere. But is rest really supposed to be unattainable for some? Is it really an unrealistic luxury, only for the privileged and those able to afford it? Today’s scripture reminds us that rest is an important part of the plan of creation, built-in from the beginning of this universe and intended for all people. In the well-known creation story from Genesis, after God created everything, from the heavens and the earth to the plants, sea creatures, animals, and even us humans, on that 7th day God rested from all the work God had done. (Genesis 2:2) In today’s reading, Deuteronomy 5:12, we hear it said that we are to “Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy as the Lord your God commanded you.” God gave to the people this commandment to observe the Sabbath, to be intentional about their practice of rest, through Moses during their time in the wilderness. Unlike the perfectly ordered, harmonious creation that God made at first, now we find God’s people making their way through a life in the wilderness, struggling through the desert after God saved them from the yoke of slavery in Egypt. The living conditions were so tough that people began to complain, wondering why they even escaped from Egypt in the first place. In fact, many wanted to go back to their lives in Egypt. They thought that their life of imposed servitude, forced labor, and no rest was better than what they now had. Yet God continued to remind them of the commandment to rest, something God had intended for them from the beginning. And God’s people needed this reminder often. In fact, God spoke to the Israelites through Moses on the importance of rest more than once. (Exodus 16:23, 20:8, 31:14, and 35:2) And they needed this reminder often because, and this really makes sense to a lot of us today, taking rest can often seem like a very unnatural thing. Living in the wilderness and not having their own home or homeland, moving from one place to another, packing and unpacking, fighting to stay alive because there might be hostile tribes that are looking to attack or harm them, resting must have seemed like the complete opposite of what they needed to do. It must have made so much more sense just to work more, work harder, just to sustain their lives. After all, as former slaves, this is the only way they knew how to live. The Israelites had been serving under forced labor in the land of Egypt for at least a hundred or maybe more years at the time of the Exodus. To them, regular rest was an entirely foreign, unheard of idea. The Israelites grew and multiplied in Egypt as slaves, never learning about the divine rest that ought to have been available to them. Instead, they lived their lives in service to the Pharaoh of Egypt, their king, spending all their time and effort on building up the nation of Egypt, knowing nothing but work for their entire lives. Labor was more than their task; it was their very core identity. Overwork was a way of life for them. Rest was part of the plan for them since the creation of humanity, but they lived their entire lives unaware of it. ) This is why it was so important for God to keep reminding the Israelites about the importance of rest, and how much they really needed it. Even though they might never have experienced that natural rhythm of life, labor, and rest before, God continued to remind them that this is God’s design for humankind. This isn’t something they need to approach as an extra or a luxury, not some privilege given only to certain people. It is a right, given to all people. Today of course, most of us in this age aren’t slaves in the same way the Israelites were. But still, we may need to learn to break free of the rhythmic cycles of intense labor and overwork. We might not have an oppressor forcing us to keep working without rest but, living in a world where our immediate response, constant productivity and constant efficiency are often socially valued more than our humanity, we can find the voice in our head becoming an oppressor. That inner voice might whisper to us that we need to respond to an email or text right away, or we might look incompetent. If we don’t work hard enough, it tells us, we will never reach our goals. If we don’t work more, we might never see better grades, or a promotion. Maybe...that kind of thinking might have been creeping in churches too. We might wonder what If we don’t keep doing more and more, does the church ever grow? In response to such ways of thinking, God tells us to incorporate rest into our thinking and living, and to commit to it as a practice. God tells us to “Observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy (Deuteronomy 5:12).” It might be the norm in the space we belong to; it could even be opposed to the social norms around us. But God says here that we shouldn’t conform to the patterns of this world. We need to be different in our commitment to taking rest regularly. Our New Testament reading today expands on the reason for this. Mark 2:28 says, “the Lord is the Lord even of the Sabbath.” While God is certainly present at work and while we are working, God is fully and truly present and at work when we rest as well. I do want you all to know though, that my message today is not simply “Hi everyone, we work too much. Let’s get more rest!” If that was all I had to say today, I would be missing something big, something truly fundamental. If we understand God’s commandment to observe the Sabbath as only meaning to literally stop all work, that would be a limited, partial understanding of what God intends here. The act of taking a Sabbath for ourselves has such historic importance for God’s community; it’s a part of our creation story, and one of God’s commandments. It comes with history, and incentive to practice. But Jesus makes it clear that if we weigh taking our own rest, and dealing with a deep-seated need of another, meeting and responding to that need is more important than our own practice of personal rest. Jesus, who came to fulfill the law, says that it is lawful to do good, to save life on the Sabbath. And if you take Deuteronomy in its context, I think we can see how insisting on rest after hundreds years of forced labor without rest was actually an absolute, life-giving need for the Israelites too. God’s eyes are always on all people in all situations. God is restless if everyone is not in a place where they can enjoy rest. Through the passages we read today, God reminds us to examine our needs regularly. How are our bodies and souls doing? Do they need rest? If so, how can we secure our rest? At the same time, today’s passages also invite us to look around to see who is vulnerable. Who is hurting by not being able to rest? Single parents? The widow? A person or family who cannot afford to take time off or break? The lonely, the worried, the anxious? And these are stories I have witnessed and experienced. A wife becomes a widow and cannot afford to pay rent. The church community gathered money and bought her a house so that she and her children will always be guaranteed a place of rest. One winter, A family couldn't afford to buy Christmas gifts and the parent’s hearts were restless. So the church gave some money to the family and the parents were able to buy their children Christmas gifts and they enjoyed a nice winter break. As a parent of three kids and I do not have my own or Don’s own families live near by, I have always appreciated those times when, just after giving birth, people in the community made sure we had meals every night for the first few weeks, so we wouldn’t have to cook and clean so much. I have also greatly appreciated the free childcare that churches, family, and friends have offered to us in the past, so that we could find a moment’s rest. For those who live alone, what Jesus might call a life-giving Sabbath would probably not mean more isolation. Maybe Sabbath looks like a time of fellowship, the revival and refreshment of the soul in the company of others. Maybe that’s something you could do; to make a phone call, send a text, or reach out over zoom, to give that kind of rest to someone else’s soul. Yes, with the COVID situation still going strong, we need a little more creativity. We can’t just get together and have a party, after all! But our God, our creator, can speak to us with new ideas, and new inspirations. God rested on the seventh day. God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it. (Genesis 2:2-3) Seven in Hebrew is a number that stands for completion and wholeness. Our rest will never be holy and complete until everyone can freely enjoy rest, refreshment and rejuvenation. As I wrap up, I want to share this image with you. https://eohhs.ri.gov/sites/g/files/xkgbur226/files/2021-03/Equity-Council-Progress-deck-091620.pdf (Retrieved from the Executive Office of Health and Human Services of Rhode Island on 8/18/21) Take a look at the image on the far-left, the one labeled “reality.” The truth is that this is what rest looks like. Rest is that thing which is only accessible for some, not all. But look at the picture on the far-right of the image, the one labeled “liberation.” Where there is liberation, the barriers between us and getting rest are removed entirely, and everyone has equal access to enjoy the rest given to them. Notice too though that there are steps here; this is a process of moving from reality, through equality and equity, eventually arriving at liberation only when we have finally done the work of removing the barriers completely. May we be a community which both practices and fosters rest. With the help of our Triune God who commands us to take rest, may we care for the least of these, and work to remove all the barriers, so that everyone can enjoy the goodness and life-giving rejuvenation of the Sabbath rest given and commanded to each of us. Amen. Sermon title: Just an ordinary fisherman?/ Rev. Jonathan McCurley Acts 2:14-18 / Aug 15, 20218/15/2021 Good Morning everyone! It is good to be back with you at KUC. Some of you might remember me but my name is Jonathan McCurley and I am serve at the Asian Rural Institute which you just heard an update about from my colleague, and we are located up in Tochigi north of Tokyo. I was commissioned and am supported by the United Methodist Church just like Pastor Claudia and have been serving at ARI since 2009.
Today I want to continue in your series thinking about resting in God, specifically what it means to allow the Holy Spirit to work in our lives. I know for me, when I remember the Holy Spirit is the promise of the power of God in our lives then my heart is at peace because I know it is not my strength but God’s strength that will carry me through. Isn’t that the rest we seek in this world? Let’s start the sermon by taking a look at a famous passage in Acts 2. We’re gonna see what happens here with Peter especially and that my friends is what our focus will be on. So here from verse 14, to summarize, we see Peter standing up along with the other apostles who had all just experienced the power of the Holy Spirit and he clarifies that they are not crazy or drunk but that God has moved. He then says that what is happening now is the outpouring of God’s spirit on all flesh just as the prophet Joel had prophesied hundreds of years earlier. This prophesy is found in Joel chapter 2, verse 28-32 which I encourage you to look up not now :) but later… After quoting Joel, peter then begins a mighty sermon… So my question for us today is what happened here because of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. Firstly, let’s look at Peter who is the one that Luke tells us stands up and speaks in verse 14… Do you know Peter? As you may know Peter was a fisherman. While this was a pretty common profession at that time. From what we know of his life from his house which is now a church in Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee, it seems like he had a fishing business that he married into and that the business was successful. It seems Peter’s father in law was a pretty successful fisherman and Peter followed him in that. Although successful, his home In Capernaum is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, Galilee. I had a chance to visit Galilee last year and it really reminded me of where I live here in Tochigi. Beautiful and peaceful but definitely seen as the middle of nowhere by Urban folks. I say this to point out that Peter was not what we would call an educated man and definitely was not supposed to be very educated in the Scriptures. But he was a disciple of Jesus and even hosted Jesus at his home for a couple of years. But as you may know his relationship with Jesus was up and down. He was always willing to say something but more often than not it did not turn out well. In other words, Peter talked too much…. Do you know any of those incidents? For example, John chapter 13, We find Peter saying “I will die with you, Jesus,” and he said “I’ll protect you Jesus,” he said “you will never wash my feet.” But if you keep reading to the end of John you see that he does not die with Jesus, he does not protect Jesus and in fact Jesus does wash his feet. In fact, to the opposite at the end of Jesus’ life, Peter even says he never knew Jesus…3x…. Peter Peter Peter But I am not just talking about Peter, am I? Does this sound familiar? Have you experienced this type of situation yourself before. You love Jesus, but you don’t live up to your promise. Sin takes over and you lose your temper. Have you ever let down Jesus and maybe even denied him? Over the past year I think many of you have struggled so much because you couldn’t come to the church to worship in person and maybe even you wondered if you were denying Jesus. I think you understand how the feelings that Peter and so many have had throughout history because things didn’t go the way they thought they should go or planned. But the story continues, and let’s keep going my friends and see again what happened in Acts when the Holy Spirit fell down on Peter. If you look again at Acts 2, you see that when the spirit comes down, Peter had a boldness unlike he had ever had. It was not just passion which he had always had. No, some type of power and wisdom comes over him. My friends, I do not think that this was something he learned or was his character. Something changed. When the Holy Spirit touched him, he became an instrument of God. If you keep reading Acts you can see that thousands of lives are changed as they become belivers and join the church and that Peter becomes a powerful man of God whose shadow can even bring healing to people. This change is what scripture tells us the Holy Spirit did to Peter. From a traitor who denied Jesus, to a man who had the power of Jesus. And it is not just Peter. If we look at the new testament we will see time after time this is the case. From the Holy Spirit comes a holy and wise boldness. Jesus says to his disciples as they go out into the world in Luke 12 that the Spirit will give us the words we need at the time we need them. That is exactly what we see happening time and time again here in the New Testament. I believe that trusting these words is what it means to live by the Spirit. If you don’t believe me read through the book of Acts and you will see how the Spirit moves not only on Jesus or his disciples but on more and more people and the impact that they have on the world grows and grows. My friends that movement of the Spirit in the lives of normal people brought them together to share and encourage one another. That my friends is what we are doing today, that is the tradition that is at least 2000 years old, which we are continuing today. The Holy Spirit has been poured out on all flesh and is a promise for us still today. I think you believe this and that you need to be reminded of this. That is why I believe you are sitting in front of your computer even now. You know that you need to be reminded of what God has done in scripture and need it in your lives today. As we gather in worship, this is our place of encouragement, it’s a place that reminds us that when we are in Christ and the Holy Spirit is on us than we are loved and accepted and forgiven of all our sins. It is a place where we can learn how to live by the Spirit so that we can face anything that comes our way. And I want to encourage us to live by the Spirit again today. I ask all at this church to deeply seek the guidance and healing and even power of the Spirit in your lives today and everyday. No matter what you may struggle with or how unworthy you may feel, remember that God chose a common man like Peter to do great things and now you are part of that great thing, the Church with billions of brothers and sisters in Christ. Just like Peter, we can find the strength to go on in the Holy Spirit. How? Again Peter. No matter how much Peter messed up or felt like he was too weak or stupid he would come back to Jesus, come back to God and God would forgive him and empower him to do things beyond his imagination. In the rest found sitting with Jesus on a beach or at a table or in a garden, Peter found a strength to go on. So friends, What does this all mean for us. I know that living by the Spirit is living not in fear of what we cannot do or do not know or how we have messed up before, but it is following the guidance of God through the Holy Spirit, entering the rest of God. Following that guidance might be that he calls you to a ministry or a situation that you have never prepared for. That was definitely true of me coming here to ARI. A place where so much is different. A place where bugs and dirt and manure are all treasures and a place where sweat and tears and laughter heal us. ARI’s life of self sustainability through life giving agriculture and dependence on the faithful gifts of those like you around the world is not always easy, but when I see the difficulties, I take a moment to seek God and I am reminded each time that it is the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit that has led this ministry for 50 years and in that, I can rest. But I think we are all living this life of not being prepared now! So much is going on around Japan and the world with ongoing civil war and disease. This whole pandemic has continued to upend so much in our lives. In fact I was just talking with one of our graduates in Myanmar last week who told me that his children have not been in school for 2 years and he has no work because of Covid and the military situation. When I shared concern, he laughed and said he was not afraid because as the Holy Spirit had empowered him before, He knows God will continue to work now Isn’t this our message of hope my friends, if we will choose to follow and live by the Spirit, I know that we will not live in fear of the situation but we will ask God who graciously gives good gifts to His Children for help and in the Spirit we will be able to go forward to face what ever is before us. That might be my friends what it is to enter into the rest of God, knowing that God’s power through His Holy Spirit will lead and guide you now as He has done with billions of others throughout history. Will you believe with me? Will you walk with me? Will you pray with me? Good morning,
Have you ever been to the headquarters of the United Nations in New York? If not, I strongly recommend or urge you to go there at least once in your life to think about the reality of worldwide peace. And do not forget to bring your passport, since that area is politically speaking independent territory and you are required to be issued a visa-like document beforehand. In June 2018, I went there and found it very meaningful rather than interesting, and at that time I had two purposes. One was to get some comprehensive image of that institution, and the second, more concrete one was to see a statue, located in the outside garden just by the East River, which is named as “Swords into Plowshares”, obviously taken from a Bible verse, read for today's Sunday service. Unfortunately, the garden is not open to the public and I couldn’t come near it. That statue was donated in 1959 by one member of the UN and can you guess the name of that country? It was Soviet Russia, very interesting, isn’t it? A communist country built a statue referring to a Biblical message, and that country fought a cold war with the western nations with nuclear power development. And I wonder what the meaning of this statue is and Peace? The word “peace” is a very convenient for various people to justify their own positions. The United Nations has a peace keeping force to fight against enemies who may cause some threat to the member countries. The Hiroshima, Nakasaki atomic bombs were said to bring peace to the world to end the Pacific War in 1945. The Olympic Games are called “the Festival for World Peace!” Some people insist on a total ban of nuclear and normal weapons (or guns in more personal context) to realize peace, and others claim them imperative. How do we, Christians, face this confusion? Do we have a clear answer for it? Of course, Jesus told us “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword." (Mat 26:52 NIV) and many Christian countries keep their military power. Should Christians live idealistic, realistic, or just compromising? I found the text of Prophet Micah gave a clue to these confusing situations. Micah was said to act as a prophet in the 8th century B.C., same or a bit later than the Prophet Isaiah. Interestingly, today's scripture appears in Isaiah text in chapter 2 verses 1-4, with exactly the same sentences. Why did I ask to read this Micah’s text, not Isaiah's? Do you think it is the same to choose either text for today’s Peace Sunday service? As I mentioned, Micah is a bit latecomer to Isiah, and the historical context of them was quite different. I have no time to give Old Testament History lectures here, but the 8th century B.C. was the crucial turning point of the ancient Israelite Kingdoms. Assyrian Empire, which held overwhelming power in the ancient Orient region was approaching Palestine to threaten their existence, Isaiah prophesied his words during the time of Assyrian approach, how to face that crisis? Remarkably, he insisted not to rely on any human militaristic power, but only on God’s sovereignty or dominion, proclaiming not the swords and spears but plowshares and pruning hooks. And the God of Israel should surely control the situation. To the eyes of the ruler of the Kingdoms, it was too idealistic and dangerous to follow and he was ignored. That is why Prophet Isaiah expected the divine ruler, the Messiah, “the prince of peace” to be installed to Israelite society (Isaiah chapters 9, 11 et. al,) as I preached last time. At the time of Prophet Micah, Israelite was defeated by brutal Assyrian power and the Northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed, and I quote one historical explanation, “Thus the last remnant of the northern kingdoms of Israel ceased to exist. This kingdom, which earlier had been one of the centers of political power play on the Syrian-Palestinian land-bridge, now dropped out for a long time as an influential actor.” (Hayes and Miller; Israelite and Judean History, p,434). As the outcome of the destruction of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, the people were taken somewhere as exiles and their situation was not known after that, and they were called “the lost ten tribes of Israel.” Prophet Micah was not in the northern kingdom but in southern Juda, and witnessed these incidents and might have recalled Isaiah’s prophecy in his context. He really understood the connotation of his predecessor’s message from the view of the defeated position, and found the essential need for building peace, not a weapon to fight but agricultural tools to create ordinary people’s life and safety; that is the peace indeed. In 2018, just before I visited the United Nations Headquarter, I went to Toronto, Canada to see Ms. Setsuko Thurlow, to invite her to Kwansei Gakuin (Schools of Kwansei), where I served as the Chancellor at that time, asking her to give peace speeches to our students. In 1945, when she was a high-school student at Hiroshima Jogakuin (a women’s high school founded by a Methodist missionary in 1886), she herself was attacked by the A-bomb, and almost killed under the collapsed building structure. Miraculously she was saved from the site and at that moment, she truly felt the crucial meaning of peace, and no more war, no more A-bombs. After that she got married to a Canadian missionary, Mr. Thurlow, who was sent to Kwansei Gakuin University with her, and lived on the Campus in Nishinomiya Most certainly she and her husband had attended KUC then. After she went back to Canada, she devoted herself to the peace movement, as the general manager of the ICAN (International Children's Action Network) appealing for a total ban of nuclear weapons, which resulted in the TREATY ON THE PROHIBITION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS approved by the UN general assembly in 2017. Soon after that she visited Japan and proposed a meeting with Prime Minister Abe to persuade the Japanese Government to approve this treaty, but Mr. Abe refused even to meet her. This ICAN was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in the same year. You can read Setsuko’sspeech at the Nobel Prize Awarding Ceremony on Internet (https://www.wagingpeace.org/setsuko-thurlow-nobel-peace-prize-acceptance-speech/). And she concludes her speech as “When I was a 13-year-old girl, trapped in the smoldering rubble, I kept pushing. I kept moving toward the light. And I survived. Our light now is the ban treaty. To all in this hall and all listening around the world, I repeat those words that I heard called to me in the ruins of Hiroshima: ‘Don’t give up! Keep pushing! See the light? Crawl towards it’” A Peacemaker like her, according to Jesus’ message, is the one who is called Children of God, struggling with the smoldering rubble of war or ignorance, opposition and even persecution from society because of her(their) righteousness. Let us pray: Our merciful Lord, today we just pray to grant us peace, Dona Nobis Pacem, not just waiting but to claim and crawl to the welfare of our life and safety which you trusted us to keep and hold. as the proof of your kingdom’s presence in our daily life. In the name of our savior, prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, Amen |
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