Words, Words, Word
Sermon
Come As You Are
Sermons On The Lord's Supper
Let me begin by reading a few announcements from church bulletins. These are actual announcements. I hasten to add that none of them appeared in our church bulletin. One read: "This being Easter, we will ask Mrs. Lewis to come forward and lay an egg on the altar." Another: "Thursday night Pot Luck Supper. Prayer and medication to follow." Still another: "This afternoon there will be a meeting in the South and North ends of the church. Children will be baptized at both ends." And: "Thursday at 5:00 p.m. there will be a meeting of the Little Mothers' Club. All wishing to become little mothers, please see the minister in his study." And finally: "At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be 'What is Hell?' Come early and listen to our choir practice."
Words are so easily confused.
But not only confused, often misused. Politicians have the worst reputation for abusing words. Bob Hope once said, "Paramount [Pictures] is making sure I won't be [typecast]. In Nothing but the Truth, I play ... a fellow who is always truthful and in Louisiana Purchase I'm a politician."
Some politicians abuse words. But what about those sweepstakes letters we get? Last Tuesday my wife got three! It's usually my wife who gets these offers, by the way. Fortunately she has promised that if she wins a million dollars, she'll share it with me.
The envelopes read: "Notification of $2,500 Winner Please Open at Once"; and "Urgent Advisory Amount Pending $4,997.88"; and "Notice to Ms. Bonnie H. Gondola of Pending Prize in the Amount of $1,000,000." Does anybody believe these letters?
Words, words, words -- confused, misused, abused -- and all around us. We may sometimes feel like we're swimming in a sea of words. Studies indicate that the average American man speaks 25,000 words a day; the average American woman 30,000. (I don't make up these statistics. I just report them.) Astronaut Michael Collins once quoted that statistic at a banquet. He continued, "Unfortunately, when I come home each day, I've spoken my 25,000 and my wife [who was apparently the "house spouse"], hasn't started her 30,000." We sometimes may feel not just that we're swimming in words but that we're drowning in a sea of words.
"Talk is cheap." We may disregard or depreciate words. Word depreciation is bad news for preachers. Doctors have pills. Dentists have drills. Accountants have bills. Preachers have words. Words are our tools. So, I get nervous when someone like Edgar Guest says; "I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day." Let me put in a few good words about words.
For one thing, words really are important. It's not true that "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." Words have power both to hurt and to heal.
In a small village church, an altar boy accidentally dropped the cruet of wine during mass. The priest hit him and shouted, "Leave the altar, and don't come back!" That boy became Tito, the Communist leader of Yugoslavia.
In an American cathedral, an altar boy dropped the cruet of wine while serving mass with the Bishop. With a twinkle in his eye, the Bishop leaned over and whispered to the boy, "Someday you will be a priest." That boy became Archbishop Fulton Sheen.
Words shape us. Wally Fletcher, a pastoral counselor, writes: "Pediatrician and Psychoanalyst D. W. Winnicott suggest(s) that a mother's words of love, comfort and encouragement gradually take the place of physical holding ... The child who has had a 'good enough' experience of being held physically in a parent's arms and emotionally with a parent's words learns to have confidence in ... words" (Lectionary Homiletics, January, 1998, p. 3).
Despite getting confused, misused, and abused, words are important. So important that the Gospel of John uses "the Word" as a name for Christ. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made" (1:1-3, RSV).
What a magnificent statement! Jesus Christ is God's Word, the Word of Creation, the Word of life.
Maybe you've seen the powerful movie, A River Runs Through It. It's the story of a strict Presbyterian minister in Montana and his relationship with his two sons. Early in the movie there's a scene where the father takes his two young sons to their favorite river to fish. One of the boys finds a fossil and brings it to dad.
The father says: "Boys, this river flows through the land over the rocks to the Sea. The rocks are half a billion years old, and show the marks of raindrops that fell long eons ago. And underneath the rocks are the words of God. Listen." They lean over and listen to the gurgling river.
Underneath the river and the rocks is the Word of God. The Word that runs through all things and holds all things together. John says Jesus is that Word, the Word that was and is to be -- forever.
The Nicene Creed puts it another way: Jesus is "the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made...."
John 1:1, the words of the Creed: beautiful words! But can we trust them? Are they the Truth? Or are they just "idle words?" I believe they are the truth. They have been the truth for me, because "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14, RSV).
The Gospels proclaim that Jesus was God Incarnate, God in the flesh, God "with skin on," God we can see. Jesus was God indeed. And God in deed. I believe in this Word because I believe in Jesus Christ.
Jesus spoke no words as a baby. But even without words, he sent a message. Lying in a manger in a dirty stable, he proclaimed God's love for the least and last. As an adult, Jesus preached about love. But he didn't just talk the talk; he walked the walk, loving others, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, standing with and for the outcasts. He preached peace and practiced peace toward others.
He gave us other words wrapped up in deeds: "This is my body, which is broken for you. This is my blood, which is shed for you. Do this, and remember me." That was more than table talk. Immediately after he said it, Jesus went out and died for you and for me. Jesus taught forgiveness -- and died with words of forgiveness on his lips: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34, RSV). Word, person, and practice were perfectly united in Christ.
We live in a world where talk is cheap. Some politicians carefully craft their speeches for maximum squirm-out-ability. Advertisers try to sell us "new and improved" versions of the same old thing. Contracts are tossed aside, promises not kept, marriage vows broken, laws ignored or avoided. Even "I love you," that precious, cherished statement, has become as common and as cheap as a bumper sticker reading "I Love New York."
But, words have meaning. Words are important. Especially the eternal Word of God. Jesus is God's Word, come to show us God in the life he lived, the death he died, and the New Life he was raised to.
Will you believe in his name?
Will you accept him as God's Word?
Will you allow Jesus to show God to you?
Will you take his words and example seriously and try to follow them?
There are words, words, words -- and then there is the Word. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." Jesus is the Word we can build our lives on, the Word we can live by, the Word we can trust.
Words are so easily confused.
But not only confused, often misused. Politicians have the worst reputation for abusing words. Bob Hope once said, "Paramount [Pictures] is making sure I won't be [typecast]. In Nothing but the Truth, I play ... a fellow who is always truthful and in Louisiana Purchase I'm a politician."
Some politicians abuse words. But what about those sweepstakes letters we get? Last Tuesday my wife got three! It's usually my wife who gets these offers, by the way. Fortunately she has promised that if she wins a million dollars, she'll share it with me.
The envelopes read: "Notification of $2,500 Winner Please Open at Once"; and "Urgent Advisory Amount Pending $4,997.88"; and "Notice to Ms. Bonnie H. Gondola of Pending Prize in the Amount of $1,000,000." Does anybody believe these letters?
Words, words, words -- confused, misused, abused -- and all around us. We may sometimes feel like we're swimming in a sea of words. Studies indicate that the average American man speaks 25,000 words a day; the average American woman 30,000. (I don't make up these statistics. I just report them.) Astronaut Michael Collins once quoted that statistic at a banquet. He continued, "Unfortunately, when I come home each day, I've spoken my 25,000 and my wife [who was apparently the "house spouse"], hasn't started her 30,000." We sometimes may feel not just that we're swimming in words but that we're drowning in a sea of words.
"Talk is cheap." We may disregard or depreciate words. Word depreciation is bad news for preachers. Doctors have pills. Dentists have drills. Accountants have bills. Preachers have words. Words are our tools. So, I get nervous when someone like Edgar Guest says; "I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day." Let me put in a few good words about words.
For one thing, words really are important. It's not true that "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." Words have power both to hurt and to heal.
In a small village church, an altar boy accidentally dropped the cruet of wine during mass. The priest hit him and shouted, "Leave the altar, and don't come back!" That boy became Tito, the Communist leader of Yugoslavia.
In an American cathedral, an altar boy dropped the cruet of wine while serving mass with the Bishop. With a twinkle in his eye, the Bishop leaned over and whispered to the boy, "Someday you will be a priest." That boy became Archbishop Fulton Sheen.
Words shape us. Wally Fletcher, a pastoral counselor, writes: "Pediatrician and Psychoanalyst D. W. Winnicott suggest(s) that a mother's words of love, comfort and encouragement gradually take the place of physical holding ... The child who has had a 'good enough' experience of being held physically in a parent's arms and emotionally with a parent's words learns to have confidence in ... words" (Lectionary Homiletics, January, 1998, p. 3).
Despite getting confused, misused, and abused, words are important. So important that the Gospel of John uses "the Word" as a name for Christ. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made" (1:1-3, RSV).
What a magnificent statement! Jesus Christ is God's Word, the Word of Creation, the Word of life.
Maybe you've seen the powerful movie, A River Runs Through It. It's the story of a strict Presbyterian minister in Montana and his relationship with his two sons. Early in the movie there's a scene where the father takes his two young sons to their favorite river to fish. One of the boys finds a fossil and brings it to dad.
The father says: "Boys, this river flows through the land over the rocks to the Sea. The rocks are half a billion years old, and show the marks of raindrops that fell long eons ago. And underneath the rocks are the words of God. Listen." They lean over and listen to the gurgling river.
Underneath the river and the rocks is the Word of God. The Word that runs through all things and holds all things together. John says Jesus is that Word, the Word that was and is to be -- forever.
The Nicene Creed puts it another way: Jesus is "the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made...."
John 1:1, the words of the Creed: beautiful words! But can we trust them? Are they the Truth? Or are they just "idle words?" I believe they are the truth. They have been the truth for me, because "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14, RSV).
The Gospels proclaim that Jesus was God Incarnate, God in the flesh, God "with skin on," God we can see. Jesus was God indeed. And God in deed. I believe in this Word because I believe in Jesus Christ.
Jesus spoke no words as a baby. But even without words, he sent a message. Lying in a manger in a dirty stable, he proclaimed God's love for the least and last. As an adult, Jesus preached about love. But he didn't just talk the talk; he walked the walk, loving others, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, standing with and for the outcasts. He preached peace and practiced peace toward others.
He gave us other words wrapped up in deeds: "This is my body, which is broken for you. This is my blood, which is shed for you. Do this, and remember me." That was more than table talk. Immediately after he said it, Jesus went out and died for you and for me. Jesus taught forgiveness -- and died with words of forgiveness on his lips: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34, RSV). Word, person, and practice were perfectly united in Christ.
We live in a world where talk is cheap. Some politicians carefully craft their speeches for maximum squirm-out-ability. Advertisers try to sell us "new and improved" versions of the same old thing. Contracts are tossed aside, promises not kept, marriage vows broken, laws ignored or avoided. Even "I love you," that precious, cherished statement, has become as common and as cheap as a bumper sticker reading "I Love New York."
But, words have meaning. Words are important. Especially the eternal Word of God. Jesus is God's Word, come to show us God in the life he lived, the death he died, and the New Life he was raised to.
Will you believe in his name?
Will you accept him as God's Word?
Will you allow Jesus to show God to you?
Will you take his words and example seriously and try to follow them?
There are words, words, words -- and then there is the Word. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." Jesus is the Word we can build our lives on, the Word we can live by, the Word we can trust.
