Sermons in Glass 9. Prayer

Sermons in Glass: 9. Prayer

The Church of the Wayfarer

Norm Mowery, Pastor

November 3, 2013

Mark 14:32-35; Genesis 3:22-24; Genesis 7:1-5

            Today’s sermon moves us to the Garden Window. In the first lancet—

            Jesus Prays in great agony in the Garden of Gethsemane prior to his arrest.

          Adam and Eve are driven from the Garden of Eden after disobeying God’s command and the flaming sword is placed by God to bar them from re-entry and from the tree of life.

          The serpent watches the event and the apple, the symbol of their disobedience, lies on the ground.

          Fuchsias decorate the upper corners of the window.

          God destroys the world by flood because of sin, saving Noah and his family. Noah builds the ark in which two of all species on earth are preserved.

          A dove sent aloft on the forty-seventh day returns with an olive branch symbolizing the end of the flood.

          Isabella Thoburn was the first woman missionary to India sent in 1869 by the Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society.

          She founded Lucknow University plus three high schools, three hospitals, four boarding schools and seventy day schools.

          She is pictured in front of the Taj Mahal. She died in 1901 of cholera.

          Artichokes decorate the upper corners.

          In this series of messages I am telling the stories that surround us in our stained glass windows.

                   They are Bible stories.

                   They are stories of faith.

                   They are stories that all Christians should know.

          The upper panels tell of the life of Jesus.

          The bottom panels are church history scenes.

          The six major theme windows are biblical scenes.

          The theme in all of today’s windows is prayer. Let’s think about prayer—particularly prayers to overcome evil.

                   Jesus struggled with the forces of evil in the garden of Gethsemane.

                   Adam and Eve struggled with evil in the Garden of Eden.

                   Noah struggled with evil as he built a big boat.

                   Isabella Thoburn traveled to India to educate the people about evil.

          Jesus knew that prayer was the only way to overcome evil.

          Prayer doesn’t really need to be taught.

                    It doesn’t require training, like being an astronaut.

                    It doesn’t require a manual, like flying a spacecraft.

                    It simply requires a heart willing to speak honestly to God.

          Prayer is not an interview of God,

                   or a speech to God,

                   it is a conversation with God.

          It is a time to listen for what God has to say back to you.

         

          Prayer means we are never alone.

          Even when we feel we are completely isolated, floating aimlessly through space, prayer is our lifeline to God.

         

          I can remember a plaque in the old stone Pennsylvania farm house I was raised in that said, ‘Prayer changes things.’

          Prayer is about unleashing the power of heaven to make a difference in our lives and the lives of others.

          1. Jesus prays ‘thy will be done’ in the Garden of Gethsemane.

          Last Sunday we saw Jesus in the Upper Room with his disciples.

          At that time the feelings must have been overwhelming for Jesus.

          Jesus needed some space. Even though he needed to be alone he took some of his closest friends with him to the Garden of Gethsemane.

                   There was a cloud over Jesus.

                   He knew that he was in trouble.

         

          In time of trouble we want someone with us.

                    We do not necessarily want them to do anything.

                    We do not necessarily even want to talk to them.

                    We do not want them to talk to us.

                    We only want them to be there.

          Jesus was like that. Certain things are clear about Jesus in this passage.

          He did not want to die but he had to compel himself to go on—just as we have to do so often.

          He did not fully understand why this had to be. He only knew beyond a doubt that this was the will of God, and that He must go on.

          He had to accept—as we so often have to do—what He could not understand.

          He submitted to the will of God as he prayed—Abba.

          Abba is the Aramaic for ‘My Father,’ and it was that one word which made all the difference.

          If we can call God ‘Father’ or ‘Mother’ everything becomes bearable.

          Jesus knew that.

          That is why He could go on—and it can be so with us.

          2. Adam and Eve

          The story of the Garden of Eden is about one little word.

                    It has three letters.

                    We don’t talk about it very much.

                    That word is—SIN!

         

          The Bible resounds with a crystal clear message.

          There is a power at work in the world whose mission is not of God's design.

                    You may call it a variety of names but nevertheless it is very real.

                    You may call it the devil, Satan, the serpent or simply evil.

          The point is that even Jesus had to wrestle with a power hostile to God in the Garden of Gethsemane.

          Recently I heard about a suburban neighborhood in which several residents were extremely upset at the reckless and fast driving that was occurring in their quiet subdivision. They organized a petition drive and demanded that the police patrol the area with greater frequency and penalize drivers who ignored the speed limits.

          The police obliged and immediately ticketed five drivers who ignored the speed limits. All of them were fuming at the fines they received. It seems, however, that all five of these ticketed drivers had signed the petition calling for enforcement.

          We hate sin, don't we? At least other people's sin!

          Mark Twain once said that Adam was only human—this explains it all.

          He did not want the fruit for the fruit's sake; he wanted it only because it was forbidden. The mistake was in not forbidding the serpent, says Twain, and then Adam would have eaten the serpent!

          Comedians have a great time with Adam and Eve in the garden, but there is nothing funny about temptation.

                   Millions of broken lives,

                   broken families,

                   broken hearts

          give testimony to the power of temptation in our lives.         

          As someone has said, "Opportunity may knock only once, but temptation leans on the doorbell."

          3. God destroys the world by flood

Why did the people on the ark think the horses were pessimistic?
          They kept saying neigh.
What kind of lights did Noah have on the ark?
          Flood lights.
Which animal took the most baggage into the ark?
          The elephant took his trunk.
Where did Noah keep the bees?
          In the ark hives.
Why couldn’t Noah catch many fish?
          He only had two worms.

          There are two principal characters in this drama.

                   Noah—so, what sort of ancient man builds a boat at the command of a                       God he cannot see?

                   God—and. what sort of God asks him to do it?

           Noah was a man who

                   saw what others didn't see;

                   heard what they didn't hear;

                   looked where others didn't look.

          He took risks and planned and acted, no matter what anyone thought or said.

          Did it matter to Noah that no one else dared build an ark where there seemed to be little need for one? No.

          What sort of man was Noah?

          The words "eccentric" and "patient" come to mind.

          The man's building a boat, the first of its kind, on dry land, in anticipation of a natural phenomenon that had never occurred before; moreover, he's cooped up in cramped quarters with his wife and family, not to speak of a boat load of animals, for 40 days and 40 nights.

          The Biblical account also tells us what he did when he got off the boat—he got drunk!
          Did Noah have doubts? Probably.

          Did he sometimes question himself? Likely.

          Wouldn't you?

          Noah was a risk-taker, a man who wagered his reputation, his wealth and all that he had on an idea—the idea that it is healthier to listen to what God says, than not to listen.

          Noah's character was strong enough to endure ridicule, tongue-clucking, name-calling and derision. He must have had high tolerance for public embarrassment.

          Noah was a righteous man, living in an unrighteous time, yet he was able to make good choices.

          It is always hard to be righteous and countercultural.

          It is as difficult now as it was then.

          Noah was a persistent man.

          Mrs. Noah might have called him stubborn.

          How much work does it take to build a huge ark without power tools or a lumber mill when you are 600 years old?

          Finally, he was a man who "walked with God.”

          He knew the companionship and fellowship of God, and when you have that in your life, you can put up with just about anything else.

          As for God—here we see—
                   A righteous and just God.
                   A merciful God.
                   A faithful God.
                   A personal God.
         

          4. Isabella Thoburn (1840–1901) was an American Christian missionary of the Methodist Episcopal Church best known for her establishment of educational institutions and missionary work in North India.

          She was an American missionary to India whose work in education there, culminated in the founding of an important woman’s college and Methodist High School in Kanpur. These two educational establishments were amongst the first in colonial India.

          Thoburn attended local schools in United States. After she had taught for several years, Isabella was invited by her brother to assist him, in his educational and missionary work in India.

          Jesus, Adam and Eve, Noah and Isabella Thoburn all sermons in glass!

Prayer

          Most loving God, we thank you for this time together, this sacred space of prayer.

          We thank you that you are always present to us, to guide and to strengthen, especially when we are uncertain and lonely.

          We would pray for those who feel abandoned and isolated and therefore feel as though they have been left behind while everyone else continues on their way.     We offer our prayers for those who are in transition, and feel as though they walk on unsafe ground.

          We lift our prayers for those who are far away from home in unfamiliar lands.

          May all for whom we pray feel surrounded by your love through the power of the Holy Spirit.

          Keep us mindful of Jesus who walked this earth as we do,

                   who also felt loneliness and betrayal

                   but who triumphed over all adversity

                   and lives forever as our sure foundation,

                   the very ground of our being.

          Help us to remember that no matter where we are -- you are there.

          For we pray in the name of Jesus the Christ who taught us to pray, saying…..

Sermons in Glass 8. Disciples

Sermons in Glass: 8. Disciples

The Church of the Wayfarer

Norm Mowery, Pastor

October 27, 2013

Mark 14:22-26; Jeremiah 18:1-10; Daniel 6:16-23

            Over ten years ago I got a call from the Bishop’s office asking if I would be willing to move to Nevada and serve as the pastor of a church near Reno.

          I thought about it for a little while and remembered how much I loved the Sierra Nevada Mountains so I said, “Sure.”

          When Linda came home I told her about my decision and she was not so sure because moving out of state as a teacher she would have to start all over and get a much lower salary.

          So, I called the Bishop back and said, “Linda is not so sure about Nevada!”

          The Bishop responded, “I’ll think about it.”

          A week later the Bishop’s office called and asked, “What about going to the Church of the Wayfarer in Carmel?”

          I said, “I better ask Linda!”

          So I asked Linda, “How would you like for me to serve a church in Carmel?”

          Linda said, “Yes!!!”

          I called the Bishop back and said, “Linda said, ‘Yes.’”

          It was at that point that God, the Bishop, and Linda all said, “Praise the Lord!”

          A few months later we came to meet with the Staff Parish Relations Committee. Barbara Hammond was outside waiting for us as we pulled up. We got out of the car and introduced ourselves as the Mowery’s.

          Barbara looked at both of us and asked, “So, which one of you is going to be my new pastor?”

          Linda said, “Not me!”

          That was the beginning of our journey with this church.

          Our time here will be coming to an end on July 1^st of next year and I can’t wait to see what God is going to do in us and this church during the next months.

          I want the next eight months to be special as we grow together.

         

          This morning I continue the sermon series titled ‘Sermons in Glass.’  In this series I am telling the stories that are found in our stained glass windows.

          This morning we have four dramatic pictures.

          1. Jesus and His Disciples join together for the Last Supper in Bethany.

          2. The Prophet Daniel, a captive Israelite of high rank in the Persian court, is the victim of a plot by jealous courtiers and is cast into the den of lions by King Darius and miraculously survives through God’s protection.

          Local deer adorn the upper corners of the window.

          3. The Prophet Jeremiah goes to the potter’s house and draws a parable of Israel represented by the clay, being worked by the potter, God.

          Jeremiah is the prophet of personal religion.

          4. Florence Nightingale revolutionized nursing practices in England,                                    established a major nursing school,

                   and was widely acclaimed throughout the world.

          She is pictured, lamp in hand, working at the Hospital in Crimea in 1854.

          Humming birds decorate the upper corners of the window.

          Let’s go back up to the top window.

          Jesus and His Disciples (Mark 14:22-26)

          The Institution of the Lord’s Supper

           While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.”

           Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it.

           He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.

           Truly I tell you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

          Peter’s Denial Foretold

          When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

          Covenant is the key word here.

          The new covenant was a relationship between people and God which was not dependent on law but on love. In other words Jesus says, “I am doing what I am doing to show you how much God loves you.”

          Because of what Jesus did they were forever within the love of God. That is the essence of what the Sacrament says to us.

          To me this picture is the church in action. Picture the setting in your mind.

Think about the various personalities who were present.

          There was volatile Peter with his temper.

          There is peaceful elderly James.

          There is Judas. Need I say more?

          This is like the church today.

                   We are all at the table.

                   We are all different.

                   We all have good qualities and less than perfect ones.

          This was the Passover meal.

                   There were four cups of wine.

                   There was bread.

                   There was the reading from the Psalms,

                             hand washing, prayers and plenty of food.

          The Prophet Daniel  (Daniel 6:16-23)

          Then the king gave the command, and Daniel was brought and thrown into the den of lions. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you faithfully serve, deliver you!”

          A stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, so that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel.

          Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; no food was brought to him, and sleep fled from him.

          Daniel Saved from the Lions

          Then, at break of day, the king got up and hurried to the den of lions.

          When he came near the den where Daniel was, he cried out anxiously to Daniel, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God whom you faithfully serve been able to deliver you from the lions?”

          Daniel then said to the king, “O king, live forever!

          My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no wrong.”

          Then the king was exceedingly glad and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den.

          So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.

          Let’s back up.

          Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylonia. He attacked Jerusalem and took the finest young men as slaves. Among them were:

                   Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

          Nebuchadnezzar ordered them to bow down and worship and image of gold ninety feet high and nine feet wide.

          Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused.

          So he threw them in a fiery furnace.

          An angel joined them.

          They were not hurt.

          A while later when Darius was King, Daniel, who was also a slave, was called in to interpret a dream. In the dream a hand was writing on the wall. The king did not like Daniel’s interpretation. 

          Remember that Daniel is an official in the Persian Empire under King Darius.

          Darius (at the instigation of his other officials) had made a decree that no one was to offer prayer to any god or man except him for a period of thirty days.     Daniel continued to pray to the living God as was his habit, knowing that praying would have him killed.

          For this action, Darius had him arrested and thrown into a lions' den.      However, he was unharmed, and after he was released the following morning, the people who had cajoled the king into making the decree (for the sole purpose of getting at Daniel) were thrown into the lions' den themselves.

          The Prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 18:1-10)

          The Potter and the Clay

          The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

          “Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.”

          So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel.   The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.

          Then the word of the LORD came to me:

          Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the LORD. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.

          At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it,

          but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it.

          And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it,

          but if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will change my mind about the good that I had intended to do to it.

          Jeremiah was also called the "Weeping prophet.” He was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible.

          Jeremiah is traditionally credited with authoring the Book of Jeremiah, 1 Kings, 2 Kings and the Book of Lamentations, with the assistance of his scribe and disciple.

          Judaism considers the Book of Jeremiah part of its canon, and regards Jeremiah as the second of the Major Prophets.

          Islam considers Jeremiah a prophet.

          Christianity also regards Jeremiah as a prophet and he is quoted in the New Testament.

          Jeremiah speaks his mind—a most disturbed and distressed mind. He complains to God about the job allotted to him.

          It has been interpreted that Jeremiah “spiritualized and individualized religion and insisted upon the primacy of the individual’s relationship with God.” His message is about a God of love.

          About a year after King Josiah of Judah had turned the nation toward repentance from the widespread idolatrous practices of his father and grandfather, Jeremiah’s sole purpose was to reveal the sins of the people and explain the reason for the impending disaster (destruction by the Babylonian army and captivity).

          “And when your people say, 'Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?' you shall say to them, 'As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.'"

          God’s personal message to Jeremiah, “Attack you they will, overcome you they can’t” was fulfilled many times in the Biblical narrative. Jeremiah was attacked by his own brothers,

                    beaten and put into the stocks by a priest and false prophet,  

                    imprisoned by the king,

                    threatened with death,  

                    thrown into a cistern by Judah’s officials,  

                    and opposed by a false prophet.  

          When Nebuchadnezzar seized Jerusalem in 586 BC, he ordered that Jeremiah be freed from prison and treated well.

          Florence Nightingale

          Florence Nightingale lived from 1820 to 1910.

          She was a celebrated British social reformer and statistician, and the founder of modern nursing.

          She came to prominence while serving as a nurse during the Crimean War, where she tended to wounded soldiers.

          She was dubbed "The Lady with the Lamp" after her habit of making rounds at night.

          Commentators have asserted Nightingale's achievements in the Crimean War had been exaggerated by the media at the time, to satisfy the public's need for a hero, but her later achievements remain widely accepted.

          In 1860, Nightingale laid the foundation of professional nursing with the establishment of her nursing school at St Thomas' Hospital in London. It was the first secular nursing school in the world, now part of King's College London.

          The Nightingale Pledge taken by new nurses was named in her honor, and the annual International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world on her birthday.          Her social reforms include improving healthcare for all sections of British society  

          Advocating for better hunger relief in India,

          helping to abolish laws regulating prostitution that were overly harsh to women,

           and expanding the acceptable forms of female participation in the workforce.

          Nightingale was a prodigious and versatile writer.

         

          Much of her writing, including her extensive work on religion and mysticism, has only been published posthumously.

          This morning we have four windows—and four stories.

          We, the disciples of Jesus and Jeremiah and Daniel are like Florence Nightengale—the Lady with the Lamp.

          May we make rounds at night to bring light to the world around us?

 Prayer

          As we come to you in prayer, O God, help us to focus our hearts and our minds on you.

          Time marches on and we have to wonder: do we?

          Or are we content to revel in past accomplishments and surrender to complacency?

          Do past resentments drain us of our energy and deprive us of the joys of the present?

          In these moments of prayer, listening God, instill in us a deep appreciation of time: a most precious natural resource.

          Each time we set our clocks and replace batteries in our watches, let us be reminded of the gift of time that is ours ... and help us to use it wisely.

          Let us use our time to share our riches with others: the money we earn and the wealth of family and friends.

           Help us to breathe in all that is ours: the beauty that surrounds us and the words of love given to us when we least expect them.

          We offer our prayers of thanksgiving for all we have been given, offered in the name of the one whose time on earth was lived so that we might know what a life of love looks like.

          We pray in the name of the one who came that we might have life eternal, Jesus the Christ whose prayer we pray together saying…...