Here I raise my Ebenezer

"The Apostle's Creed cleans up everything the Pastor messes up."

This past Sunday in our third week discussing the Apostle's Creed this line stood out to me above the others in the sermon we heard. It made sense to me. It reminded me of the fact that no one in that room was flawless. No one had it all together, not even our great Pastor. So many people get this idea that we are called to look up to our Pastor, as our head, and do what he says, but our Pastor is like us. We, as Christians, are called into the priesthood of all believers. We are called to journey with our Pastor--who has been trained to equip us--as we do what God has called us to: To be his disciples. That's why I love liturgy, or the Work of the People, because it reminds us that worship is not all about songs we are led in or the Sermon we hear. It is so much more than that, but it involves active participation and involvement. It is about us, together, worshiping this one we call Savior.

I found this to be a fitting way to begin a sermon that was looking at the second part of the Apostle's Creed: The part about Jesus. He talked about how the Apostle's Creed connects us to what the first Apostles would have touched and experience during their time with Jesus. It in many ways connects us to Jesus and it is a constant reminder that what we, as a congregation, as Christians for centuries have believed is not made up. This is us as a body recounting historical events because we have a historic faith.

I love how our Pastor ended the sermon by talking about how we need to share our Ebenezer's--the ways that God has helped us and shown his love for us. It was a reminder that as the first Disciples shared their experiences with Jesus, as our Gospel writers recorded the love and time that Jesus invested in them we are called to share our experiences. God shows us His love in countless ways so that we could share that with others, not so that we could hoard it to ourselves.

Recounting the sermon later that night, I challenged the youth group with the same question. I asked them both how they have seen God this past week and ways that they would like to see God. As is typical many of them were quiet and did not appear to have answers. Now I acknowledge that much of this silence is due to teenage shyness and fear of humiliation. I myself was one of those teenagers who did not like to be the first or last to share my thoughts. But, I wonder how much of that response rings true to many of us? How many of us would be willing to share how God has shown us His love this week? How many of us would dare to share how we hope God shows his love this week. It would be foolish to try and act like we do not have our own expectations and hopes for Jesus. If we see Jesus work within our lives and the lives of others why does it seem so hard to share it? Why does it seem so easy for some people to share and not for others? Is it merely a personality difference or is it our understanding of why we received this love? How can we, as Christians, this Lenten season get better at sharing our experiences with the larger body?

What is it that We believe?

Lent. Week 1. Day 4. The day that people are beginning to see how hard their fast is. That some people have already given up and thrown in the towel. The day that others are moving along as if their Lenten fast is their New Years Resolution that they are still following. It is still the beginning and yet we are moving farther into this 40 day journey.

To begin my Lenten season I had the privilege of preaching at the church that I am employed at. I began our churches Lenten series on the Apostle's Creed by analyzing the why of what we believe. As someone who enjoys blogging I have decided during this Lenten season to post one blog a week about my experiences during Lent. I find this season to be a great time for reflection and drawing close to Jesus. As my church goes through our series on the Apostle's Creed and analyzing what we believe I too want to share my thoughts on the Creed via this blog.

To share my thoughts this week I would like to share an excerpt from my sermon I shared this pass Sunday. The Sermon lesson was on Luke 4:1-13 on Jesus in the Wilderness.

"We believe...what is it that we believe?

Throughout this Gospel passage we witness Jesus’ immediate actions after his baptism. He goes out and follows the guidance of the Holy Spirit into the Wilderness. This is pretty important because a lot has happened in the wilderness. One time that comes to mind is when the Israelite's fell in the wilderness and had to be there for 40 years. And now we have Jesus going to the wilderness for 40 days to fast. Jesus did this because he knew what He believed and who he was. The beloved child of God sent here on a mission to save humanity.

Jesus was tested and could overcome these temptations because he knew what he believed. He was tempted to give into doubt and not believe that God would care and provide for him, tempted to give into false worship in order to have control and do what he felt would be best, and tempted to test the trust that he had in God. These are some of the same temptations that so many of us face today, but he overcame them because he knew what he believed.

He knew what he believed...I’m saying that a lot, but that’s pretty important, to know what and why we believe what we believe. That’s the very reason why we have teenagers go through confirmation. To know what and why we believe what we believe. 

Throughout the next couple weeks as we go through the time of Lent--the 40 days before Easter--we are going to be studying the Apostle’s Creed. This is a Creed, a Statement, of what we as a body agree that we believe. It is very fitting that we would take 40 days to study what we believe, to maybe even fast, in order that we could live a life of discipleship by pursuing the kingdom...when we live this life we will be able to overcome temptation because we trust in our Lord and know what we believe. There are some preachers out there who will say Christianity is easy and there is no temptation. They’re wrong. Temptation comes and we need to overcome it, in order to do that we need to know what we believe. If the SON OF GOD goes through temptation I am pretty sure a regular Christian Joe will too. So following in Jesus’ example we are learning and growing towards the Father for 40 days. 

During this time there may be times of doubts and questions. Those are not inherently bad. That is why community is so vital and important. Community and relying on God. When we are alone temptation will come even harder then when we are with people. We are allowed to doubt, but what we want to avoid is giving into the doubt, giving into the temptation to say, “none of this makes sense so I give up and I am moving on.” We are studying, together as a body, what we believe in order to fully stand against temptation that the Accuser throws our way and in order to live out what we believe.

Creeds help us do this. They remark each week what we believe and remind us that we are in this together. This isn’t just some lone loon who happens to believe this ancient guy, but we are stating that we believe the same truths that people have believed for hundreds of years! It unites us in our belief and even Jesus, God made flesh, unites himself with us. He came down to be like us and just like we are often, he was tempted by the Accuser.

So this passage we read, it is perfect for beginning our series and beginning this season of Lent. Many people choose something to give up for Lent as a way of refocusing on God. They choose something to give up that may be holding them back from God and take time to grow closer to God. It is a time to show us, like Jesus stated, that man does not live on bread alone. We need God more than many of us are comfortable admitting in this world of independence and individualism.

We don’t like needing someone. It is in these times of individualism that temptation can most strike.

This is a time to say, “yes I need the Father. I need what I confess to be true. I don’t need food, I don’t need coffee, I need the Father. I need to seek the Kingdom and everything else will fall in line.”

*References from NT Wright's Luke For Everyone Commentary.