Refilling Surge Capacity: The Impact of the Syrophoenician Woman on Jesus | Sermon Reflection, Mark 7:24-31

Posted on September 9, 2024 by patrick h wrisley

A Sermon delivered on Sunday, September 8, 2024, by Rev. Dr. Patrick H. Wrisley

Have you ever heard someone use the phrase, “I’ve hit the wall”? It is a phrase used to describe someone who has reached her limits and has nothing left in the tank to give anymore. They are exhausted. They have hit the wall. If you think back a few years, you will remember how many of us felt that when the pandemic thrust itself into our everyday lives. It required all of us to adapt most uncomfortably and inconveniently to life as it played out around us.

It happened to me in the church. One Sunday, we have several hundred people in worship and the next week, we have set up a make-shift TV studio in my office trying to figure out this thing called Livestream. Full-time parents with full-time jobs all of a sudden had to work at home along with their children who were full-time students online for school learning how to not only get along but learn how to do life together 24/7. Week after week I would get calls, “Why aren’t we meeting back in person yet? Why aren’t there Bible Studies? Why not this, or how come that?!” After a year of it, I was exhausted. How about you?

I noticed there were changes in how I related to both people and life. I grew emotionally tired of trying to be a cheerleader and encourager for a large staff and congregation. Every single day was a new pivot I had to make in my leadership because all aspects of everyday life had turned upside down. Every day was a continuing education workshop as I had to adapt to leading a staff and congregation daily in ways I never imagined I would. My dear wife had congestive heart failure, so I had this nagging fear that I would bring the virus home and kill her. It got to the point I was physically there, but I was not there. It got to the point I had to go talk with a counselor about it because I just wasn’t my old self.

So there, in my first ever Teladoc appointment (have you ever had one of those?), I am told, “Mr. Wrisley, I am seeing this a lot lately. The problem is you have depleted your surge capacity.” Huh?

Surge capacity is our human ability to draw upon spiritual, physical, and emotional reserves in times of crisis or high stress. We look back on a situation and wonder, “How did I, how did we, ever get through that?” We got through it because we had stored reserves in our surge capacity. A person’s surge capacity is those reservoirs of strength, clear-headedness, faith, and pragmatism that we dip into when we feel like we are hitting the wall. The problem appears in us when those reserves are depleted because the crisis or stress has lasted too long. My counselor told me, “Patrick, you have depleted your surge capacity. You have nothing in the tank, and we must figure a way for you to fill it back up so you can be your old self again.”[1]

As you think back over your life, whether from the pandemic, time in the armed services, natural disasters, or simply from the frenetic pace of life your job and other commitments demand of you – have you ever had depleted surge capacity? My guess is an unqualified, Yes! We human beings can only absorb and do so much.

This morning, we are going to look at a moment when Jesus’ surge capacity is depleted. His tank was dry. He hit a wall. Turn in your Bible to Mark 7 and we are going to pick up at verse 24. It is helpful to remember all that has happened before this point in the story. Jesus has begun his ministry tour and has crisscrossed the region teaching, preaching, healing the sick, casting out demons, and trying to mentor his disciples. His cousin, John the Baptist, has been executed by the Empire. His family and kinsfolk of Nazareth did not accept his teaching or work. And now the hot-shot religious leaders from Jerusalem have traveled to Capernaum and are grilling Jesus and trying to trip him up. The Jewish Ph.D.’s of religion of the day, the Pharisees, are embroiled in arguments with Jesus about traditions and commandments about what is clean and unclean. The wall is hit. Listen to the Word of the Lord.

Mark 7:21-30

 24.21 From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, 25but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet.26Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27He said to her, ‘Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ 28But she answered him, ‘Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.’ 29Then he said to her, ‘For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.’ 30So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.[2]

Let’s be honest. This is not a flattering text. Preachers and scholars have all made various explanations for Jesus’ salty attitude from, “He is focused on the people of Israel first because that’s his mission” to “the word for ‘dog’ in the original language means ‘puppy’ so Jesus really isn’t being so snarky.” I don’t know. We have a saying back home that you can put lipstick on a pig but it’s still a pig. Jesus uses a common saying among the Jewish people describing the Gentiles in less than flattering ways; in other words, at this point in his journey, Jesus is not what we describe as being ‘woke.’

As tempting as it was to pick another text to preach on, we must wrestle with this hard verse. Why? Because it is a visible reminder that Jesus was a human being like you and me. The human Jesus had foibles. Christians have so focused on Jesus’ divine aspects that we have neglected to remember the beauty of the Incarnation of Christmas: Jesus, God with us, became a human being. It is the human Jesus that snapped at Simon Peter when got his purpose wrong. It is the human side of Jesus we see crying tears of blood from anguish on the night he was betrayed. It is the human side of Jesus who flipped the tables in the Temple when he saw how God’s house had been turned into a marketplace. It is the human side of Jesus that burned with anger when the religious know-it-alls placed policy above human need or interest. It is the human side of Jesus who scolds the disciples telling them, “Let the little children come to me.” And, it’s the human side of Jesus, who is operating with a depleted surge capacity who tells the Greek woman, “I’m here for my people first, then…”

What I love about this story is that it shows us a Jesus who gets tired and acts impulsively. I love the bold tenacity of the woman who dared to approach a Jewish male and make a plea to him. I love this story because this woman schooled Jesus and taught him something that he was not perhaps fully aware of within himself. Just as Jesus schooled the Pharisees in verses 1-23 about what defiles a person, so this desperate mother was not going to settle for a brush-off when it came to her little girl. “Even the puppies eat the scraps of food that are dropped from the master’s table.”

This woman and her bold, tenacious behavior and demand is exactly what Jesus needed to refill his surge capacity. She taught him that unlike his very own disciples who were not sure who he was, unlike his family who thought he was a little funny in the head, unlike the religious officials who thought he was corrupting the faith and Jewish culture, this bold woman is the one who recognized Jesus for who he was. Up until this point in Mark’s Story, it was mostly the exorcised demons who recognized and knew who Jesus was. Here, the Syrophoenician gentile woman falls at Jesus’ feet in an act of worship and believes in who Jesus is.

Wouldn’t you love to have seen Jesus’ face? The woman did the symbolic “drop-the-microphone”, and I can see this look of, “I just got schooled…I just got reminded of my larger purpose and task. Go, your daughter is well and her demons are gone.” I see Jesus with a wry smile shaking his head slowly back and forth thinking, “She gets it. Now I know I need to keep pressing ahead; there are detractors, but people are beginning to understand, even if it’s not the ones I expected.”

Because of a bold, tenacious, respectful bulldog of a woman, we have access as Gentiles to come to this table. Because of Jesus’ humanity that was shaped by the desperate pleas of a mother in distress, the Table has been opened to all of us. She helped refill our Lord’s surge capacity. Through this meal, Jesus restores yours and mine. Let us pray.

© September 8, 2024, by Patrick H. Wrisley. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls, NY, and not be altered, re-purposed, published, or preached without permission. All rights reserved.

[1] Tara Halle, Your ‘Surge Capacity’ Is Depleted — It’s Why You Feel Awful. Here’s how to pull yourself out of despair and live your life, August 17, 2020, Medium. Accessed on September 7, 2024, at https://elemental.medium.com/your-surge-capacity-is-depleted-it-s-why-you-feel-awful-de285d542f4c.

[2] The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, 1995 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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Living a Circumspect Life: How to Walk Intentionally with God, Ephesians 5:15-20

Posted on September 2, 2024 by patrick h wrisley

A sermon delivered on August 18, 2024 by the Rev. Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.

This morning, we are looking at Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church. In the first part of his letter, Paul is talking about theology and what we believe about Jesus. He is shifting his focus in the part we are reading this morning and is now looking at how that theology, what we believe, shapes how we live. In other words, this part of the letter deals with ethics and how we live and who we become in the world. 

As we zoom down into chapter five, we will note the first part of chapter describes what a person’s life looks like before they get to know Christ. Then, like a parent shouting to their teenager, Paul transitions in verse 14 by exclaiming,”Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you!” Some believe that this is part of an ancient baptismal hymn and serves as a launching point for today’s lesson showing what it looks like to live as a Christian after one’s baptism. In baptism, a person wakes up from death and lives a revitalized life. In baptism, a person renounces their former way of life and are re-clothed with the robes of Christ’s grace. We get an entirely new spiritual wardrobe. 

This morning, I will be reading from Eugene Petersen’s paraphrase of the Bible called the Message. Listen to the Word of the Lord!

Ephesians 5:15-20

16 So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times!

17 Don’t live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants.

18-20 Don’t drink too much wine. That cheapens your life. Drink the Spirit of God, huge drafts of him. Sing hymns instead of drinking songs! Sing songs from your heart to Christ. Sing praises over everything, any excuse for a song to God the Father in the name of our Master, Jesus Christ.[1]

In the ancient church, when a person underwent baptism, they would strip off their clothes as a demonstration how they were stripping off their old way of life. They go into the water as a sign of their bathing and becoming clean in Spirit and then they would climb out of the pool and clothed with brand new clothes representing their new life in Jesus. Once dressed, the first thing a person hears is, “Be careful how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, because the days are evil” (NRSV). Or as Petersen says it, “So watch your step! Use your head! Make the most of every chance you get! These are desperate times.” 

These are desperate times. One does not need to be a rocket scientist to notice that in our state, nation, and world. Mass shootings are epidemic in our nation. There have been 351 mass shootings and 19 mass murders just this year and it is only August! School Board meetings across the country have been hot beds of contention revealing an Orwellian undertone about the books our young people can read. Fellow Americans threaten other citizens with threats of, “I know where you live, and I will come and hunt you down” over politicized healthcare issues. Then we add to this list all the natural and environmental issues the world we are facing like water shortages, drought, wildfires, melting ice packs, dead zones in the oceans from trash, depleted fish supplies…oh, let’s not forget democracies are under attack, wars, disease…you get the point. Evil and the effects of evil are legion. So, the first thing a new follower of Christ hears from Paul’s pen, “So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times!” In other words, he tells us to live circumspect lives because the days are full of people, issues, and circumstances that will harm you and try to drag you down to places you do not want to go.

What does living circumspectly even mean? When Paul writes “Watch your step!” he uses a word in the Greek language we get the word ‘peripatetic.’ A peripatetic is a person who moves around a lot. They are active. In Jesus’ time, a peripatetic describes a teacher who taught their students while walking about; Jesus was a peripatetic, for example, in the same way Aristotle and Plato were. And how do we watch our step? Intentionally. Carefully. Diligently. Circumspectly. In verse 15, Paul uses the same word used when the Three Wise Men came from the east and anxious King Herod told them, “Go and search diligently for this child and then let me know where he is!” Friends, that is what living a circumspect life means.

For Paul, he specifically provides us three instructions on how to watch our step and live circumspectly. The first is thing he says is, “Don’t live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you know what Jesus wants.” Petersen is being very gracious in his translation because what the original language literally says is, “Don’t be stupid.” Sounds a tad harsh, Paul! Well, it is! Paul does not want them to forget the new life they have in Christ. 

Last year, I had to privilege of going to Ephesus and walk around. They have only begun to unearth the ancient city from Paul’s time but what they have discovered is amazing. The “Glen Street” of Ephesus is made with these huge, blue marble stones. One of the most beautiful buildings is the ancient stone library. What I learned from our Turkish guide is that excavators have discovered an underground tunnel which ran from the library across and under the street to the house of ill-repute. The guide went on to say how the husbands would tell their wives, “Honey, I’m going to the library.” 

Paul wants us to stay at the library. He tells them to remember their new life came with a high price tag at the cost of Jesus’ death. Paul does not want them to get spiritually lazy and fall back into old ways of living which was living unto themselves instead of for God. He wants them to discern God’s direction for them as a church, so they need to be alert. Be diligent in understanding what the will of God is, Church; do not be foolish and stupid!

Paul secondly instructs them, “Don’t get drunk with wine but be filled with the Spirit of God.” His simile can be interpreted in a couple of ways. One way to understand it is that Ephesus was home to an active Dionysian cult whose worship included vast amount of wine drinking and hedonism. Maybe Paul is telling the Church not to confuse the way it worships the Lord with the way the surrounding culture worships their Greek gods.[2] A second way to understand this instruction is Paul is simply telling the church not to become inebriated with what the world says will make you happy and content. The world says consume but the Spirit of God says give. The world wants us to look out for ourselves, look out for number one, but the Spirit of God says look after each other. Be filled with Holy Spirit, Church, and not overly saturated with the ways the world and culture lives life.

Finally, Paul instructs the community the importance of worshiping together. Worship is the cardio that makes the church community alive and thrive. Worship conditions us to watch our step “out there.” Worship is the context that instructs us, reminds us of the ways of God do not show the ways and values of the world “out there.” Sadly, too many today worship as convenience instead of directing praise to God for the blessings bestowed. We worship when we feel like it. Sadly, worship in our country has become a battleground for styles instead a parade ground to celebrate Jesus. When styles, instruments, garments, and books become the focus of worship, a cancer is in the system. Worship is about God and only God alone; styles and preferences are tertiary to spiritual music that builds up the community’s praise of God and its resilience in the world “out there.” Paul calls us to make music together as a Church and within our hearts! Paul instructs us to saturate ourselves with the presence of God while with one another and sing songs of gratitude! Paul instructs us to be thankful and grateful for all we have and for all that is coming! Sing, Church, sing! 

This, Church, is what it means to watch our step and walk an intentional circumspect life. So, as we go today and head into a new week, let us each think upon how we are walking in this life of ours. Does your life, does my life, show that we are walking circumspectly, care-fully, and attentively with God?

I close with this prayer pastor Eugene Peterson wrote about our text this morning. I encourage you to make it your own. He prays: 

Instead of careless, unthinking lives, We want to understand what you, Our Master want. What we really want is to drink your huge draughts of your Spirit. We want hearts so full that they spill over in worship as we sing praises over everything, taking any excuse for a song to you our Father. In the name of our Master, Jesus Christ. [3]

In the name of the One who is, was, and is to come. Amen.

© August 18, 2024, by Patrick H. Wrisley.  Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls, 8 West Notre Dame Street, Glens Falls, NY 12801 and not be altered, re-purposed, published, or preached without permission. All rights reserved.

[1] The Message (MSG). Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson

[2] The Dionysian Background of Ephesians 5:18 by Cleon I. Rogers in Bibliotheca Sacra, BSAC 136:543 (July 1979).  Accessed on 14/2021 at http://mydigitalseminary.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/The-Dionysian-Background-of-Ephesians-5_18-by-Cleon-L.-Rogers-Jr.pdf.   

[3]  Eugene H. Peterson, Practice Resurrection: A Conversation on Growing Up in Christ (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2013), 204.

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Overcoming Depression: The Story of Elijah – Finding Solace in God’s Silence, 1 Kings 19:1-14

Posted on August 11, 2024 by patrick h wrisley
https://www.ipic.ai/images/GO1l8N/view

A Sermon Delivered on August 11, 2024 by Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.

Today’s Story with the biblical giant Elijah is one all of us can relate with in our own lives. Let us review what is going on in Elijah’s life in the before chapter, 1 Kings 18, so we can better find with him.

In 1 Kings 18, God has dazzled the king and queen of the northern Kingdom of Israel Ahab and Jezebel with dramatic displays of divine power. Elijah has showed that their 450 prophets of Baal are charlatans, and he then kills those prophets by the sword. Queen Jezebel is none too pleased about this and places a fatwah of sorts on Elijah’s head. She has killed the Lord God’s prophets before, and she promises to take Elijah’s life as well. What is Elijah’s response?

Elijah turns tale and runs. He runs some 100 miles to the remote southern part of Judah and then he flees another 100 miles southwest towards Egypt! He is putting as much space between him and Jezebel as he can, and he ultimately winds up where God first began to define his relationship with the people of Israel. This is where we pick up in the Story.

1 Kings 19.1-14

19.1Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” 3Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there. 4But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.” 5Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” 6He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. 7The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.” 8He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.

9At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”10He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” 11He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake;12and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. 13When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 14He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” [i]

What strikes me about this Story is that the Prophet Elijah, who is usually spot-on with next God’s lead and direction, has totally gone off script. The one time when he should be inquiring of God as what to do next in his life, he instead charts his own path, and zig zags his way to a place where he can be alone.

Elijah is overwhelmed with all the events of his life. He is filled with both fear and amnesia. Fear in that life events are too big for him and are out of control; his world seems as though it was crumbling down all around him. His all-encompassing fear and fatigue causes Elijah to act in ways he normally would not have acted. His fear bred within him a sense of amnesia.

His fear made him forget to stop and first listen to God for direction.

His fear made him forget that not once has God let him down.

His fear made him to forget that God has performed dramatic events of divine power and has listened to Elijah’s prayers.

His fear made him forget that he, in fact, was not the last prophet of the Lord God left; he knew there were hundreds of others.

His fear turned his once normally indefatigable lion-hearted spirit into a shattered shell of a man who became enveloped in hopelessness.

Has that ever happened to you? Have life events so swallowed you up that their waves come one after the other beating on you and in their battering, you forget that you know how to swim? This is where Elijah is.

Look with me at verse 9 in our text. We read, “At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there.”  Another rendering of this verse is, “At that place, he entered into a depression and spent the night there.”  Considering all that is going on in Elijah’s life, considering how a bounty has been placed on his head, considering his spiritual amnesia, there is a wonderful play on words in our Story. Elijah was literally in a depression.

 Friends, we live in swirly time. Many of us know or personally suffer from some sort of depression or feeling overwhelmed by life. Did you know that 32% of young people between the ages of 13 and 18 in our country suffer from sort of anxiety disorder?[2] The National Institute of Mental Health notes, “An estimated 22.1 percent of Americans ages 18 and older—about 1 in 5 adults—suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year.”[3]  Over 52% of those who suffer from depression do not get medical help for their illness.[4]

When a person is in a depression, they easily fall into a state of amnesia; in other words, they forget the way a normal life feels and really is.

When a person is in a depression, overwhelmed with life, they forget to pause and listen for God’s direction and solace.

When a person is in a depression, they forget that in honest hindsight, God has never let them down before so why would God forget them at this point?

When a person is in a depression, they tragically feel this sense of being the only one who really understands the pain they are feeling; though they are surrounded by other people who care, their depression prevents them from seeing those who are ready and willing to help.

So, what exactly does God do with Elijah as he is stuck in his depression? God does three things. The first thing we note is God goes and meets Elijah where he is. Even into depression’s deep recesses, God can speak with clarity. God can penetrate the cave’s depths with God’s very Word. I love what the great philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard wrote where he says, “When human knowledge can’t see a hands-breadth before it in the dark night of suffering, then faith can see God, for faith sees best in the dark.”[5]

The second thing that we note is how God patiently meets Elijah in the depression itself. Does God lay into Elijah for not praying for direction or help during his plight? Does God tell him, “You don’t have it that bad; there are people worse off than you!”? Does God tell him, “Suck it up and pull yourself up by the bootstraps”? Absolutely not. God simply asks, “Elijah, what are you doing here? Go stand outside the depression as I will come by you.”

What follows are all these dramatic displays of divine power from greats winds, earthquakes, and fire. No amount of divine fireworks would pull Elijah out from his depression. But then, God becomes silent – or as one person described, “grindingly silent.” This piercing silence calls out to Elijah, and I wonder what he is thinking.

“Is God gone?”

“Why isn’t God trying to get my attention?”

“Has God abandoned me?” 

These are common feelings for those who are overwhelmed with the pressures of life. I wonder what drew Elijah out of the depression. Was he at all curious to know if God was still there? We just do not know.

This leads us to the third thing God did and that was to give Elijah something to do. God did not give up on him even though Elijah had given up on himself. God knew that Elijah’s gifts and graces were not being put to work while he was stuck the depression, that cave, that he was huddling inside. Elijah seems quite content to stay in the depression he was in, but God needed to lure him out.

This is a common behavior for those who feel overwhelmed with all that life is throwing at them. They want to hunker down into the cave even further away from anyone or anything. You see, people overwhelmed by life or in a depression really do not have the energy or want to do anything; it is simply too hard to muster the energy. The Lord God wants Elijah to do the very thing Elijah is afraid of and that is re-engaging life. God is asking him to do the counterintuitive response to crawl outside the cave and get back into life with all its winds, earthquakes, and fires. God is calling Elijah back out into life and purpose. Once again, God simply asks Elijah, “Elijah, what are you doing here?” Once again, Elijah goes through his list of woes, but God knows the path back to fullness and life for Elijah is to get out of the cave and back down the mountain. God tells him, “Elijah, I hear you. Trust me. But you see, there is life to be lived and the only way you are going to overcome the overwhelming events you are feeling is to honestly acknowledge them and lean into them. I am with you. I need you to You have to get back to work; it will be good for you, I promise. Now, backtrack your route and be the Prophet you are wired up to be. Go and anoint Hazael as King over Aram.” God knew that to break out of that depression, Elijah needed to be about something useful.

So, what has this to do with you and me? It affirms that even those loved, called, and cared for by God will at times become overwhelmed with the pressures of life and that sometimes those pressures will drive us into a depression of immobility.

It affirms that when we meet those who are in those depressions in life, we, like God, are to refrain from offering helpful advice and comments like, “You don’t have it so bad.” “There are a lot of people worse off than you.”  “Suck it up and pull up your bootstraps.”  No, that type of advice simply drives people further into the cave, the depression.

Instead, it affirms that when we meet people overwhelmed by life because of illness, broken relationships, rut-like jobs, or mental illness – we are most caring when we, like God, are silent with them. We are to be a quiet, loving presence that patiently waits lets others come out of the cave when they feel safe to do so.

Finally, like God, when people do come out of their cave and depression, we are to meet them with a simple question and not overload them with advice. God asked Elijah, “Eli, what are you doing here?”  We are simply to ask, “Sister, brother, how are you doing? Remember, you are not alone.”

It is a great comfort to know that a spiritual giant like Elijah felt overwhelmed by life just like we do at times. It is also a blessing to remember that God followed him there and never let him alone.

© August 11, 2024 Patrick H. Wrisley. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church, DeLand, Florida and not be altered, re-purposed, published or preached without permission.  All rights reserved.

[1] New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

[2] See https://adaa.org/understanding-anxiety/facts-statistics. Accessed August 8, 2024.

[3] The National Alliance on Mental Health at https://www.nami.org/About-Mental-Illness/Mental-Health-By-the-Numbers/. Accessed on August 6, 2024.

[4] Ibid.

[5] As quoted in Estelle Frankel’s, The Wisdom of Not Knowing. Discovering a Life of Wonder by Embracing Uncertainty (Boulder: Shambhala, 2017), 55.

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Measuring Christian Maturity: Insights from Ephesians 4:1-16

Posted on August 4, 2024 by patrick h wrisley

 A sermon delivered by Patrick H. Wrisley on August 4, 2024

This morning’s scripture lesson comes from Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus. Many presume he wrote it some 35 plus or minus years after Jesus died, most likely from a prison cell in Rome. There are two prominent themes running through the whole letter. First, Christ has reconciled all creation to himself. Second, Christ has reconciled people from all nations into the church and so expects people within the church to be reconciled to one another. Today we pick up in chapter 4 and its first sixteen verses. Listen to the Word of God.

Ephesians 4:1-16

4.1 I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

7 But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it is said (in Psalm 68.18),

“When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people.”

9(When it says, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.) 11 The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. 14 We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. 15 But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.[1]

Let us start today with a simple, straightforward question: Are you a grown up? A twist on that might be, have you grown up yet? Young people hear their parents tell them, “When you start acting like a grown-up, then you can go and do such-in-such!” Parents attach certain characteristics to what it looks like to act like an adult in the world and we try to teach those to their children.

What are signs you look for in a person that decides their level of maturity? Is it how someone dresses? Is it how they act in various circumstances? Do we measure maturity by age or by how knowledgeable someone is? Then again, maybe we measure someone’s maturity by how well they handle increased responsibility.

The Apostle Paul is writing the church and is imploring them to grow up and act like mature followers of Christ. Apparently, Paul had some rubrics and a set of metrics that measured both a person’s and a church’s maturity, and we will unpack those from our text today. He gives us at least three basic indicators for measuring the maturity of a disciple and as a church. First, a disciple’s life will quietly but consistently show the tone and timbre of Christ’s personality. Second, every follower of Christ is given unique gifts to use for the greater good. Finally, a disciple of Christ is committed to a life-long learning of the faith.

The first metric used to measure a Christ-follower’s maturity is whether their life even reflects the tone and timbre of Jesus’ personality. In other words, can people even tell whether we are a disciple of Christ’s or not? Now, looks can be deceiving and what we see going on on the outside may not always show what is going on on the inside. We have all met those Christians who say and who act all pious and such like carry a Bible everywhere, go to church, and bring a casserole to the pot-luck picnic; the problem is, but these same people will also gossip about folks, put people down behind their backs and withhold the love of Jesus if they disagree with you. When I say our life needs to look like a disciple’s life, I mean our life consistently reflects internalized core virtues and values which emulate Jesus’ personality from our inside out.

Paul says for us to lead a life worthy of our calling, literally our vocation, as a disciple of Jesus, then our life will bloom with the buds of virtues and values that smell like Christ. He says our lives will be steeped in humility and gentleness. Our lives will show patience and longsuffering. A disciple’s life reflects its ability to put up with and have a good relationship with others in the Christian community. Another way to say that is a mature disciple will patiently get along with others for the help of the greater good of the church. Humility, gentleness, patience, and putting up with those you disagree with are virtues and values developed over time and practice but there is intentionality in their development. It’s only when these virtues and values show the tone and timbre of Jesus’ life that all the pieces fall in perfect alignment and the grandeur of the One Spirit, the One Lord, the One God, and Father of us all is displayed. People will look at you and see the face of Jesus.

The second indicator of a mature Christian is seen in their use of the unique gift the Spirit has endowed each of us. The list of gifts in our lesson today is not meant to be an exhaustive list because Paul is echoing other verses from Romans and Corinthians that also have lists of spiritual gifts. As a result of Christ’s death and resurrection, each Christian is particularly gifted to foster an environment where the ministry of Christ is practiced in Christian community. Why? It is so the collective Christian community, that is the Church, can learn to take vibrant ministry out into the world.

The Church is where we learn and practice the art of being an apostle, a prophet, an evangelist, a pastor, and a teacher. The Church is the place where we practice using our gifts of giving liberally, the context we learn to be hospitable to strangers, and the living room we can safely stretch our faith. The Church is to be the safe environment to explore our gifts and graces so that we can fully use them in the larger community. The Church should be teeming with people who are eager jump in and use their gifts. The Church should be the place disciples come together to work on and through tough issues and show the world how to lovingly agree to disagree and carry forth together with the mutual ministry God has called us into. And let us be brutally honest here: If we in the church can’t get along and practice our faith together, we can’t expect people in the world to do it. The Church is bar setter for the culture and larger world.

So, Christian maturity is measured by the show of basic virtues and values that show Jesus’ personality. Maturity is measured by how well we are using our spiritual gifts both individually and corporately. The third measure of Christian maturity is a disciple’s commitment to life-long learning about God and their faith. Paul is imploring us to grow maturely in our knowledge of the faith so we will not be blown about in the wind by the many spiritual, cultural, or political snake oil salesmen out there in the world today.

 Beloved, how are you growing in your knowledge of the faith? Are you?

Think with me a moment. Think about a person’s emotional development. As a person grows older and at various phases of her life, her personality changes, the way she processes information changes, and the way she relates and communicates with others changes as well. In a person’s psycho-social development, isn’t it obvious when an adult behaves like an adolescent? If a person is not growing in their psycho-social development, we get worried and call-in specialists and counselors to help them get unstuck. Well, did you know growth in our spiritual maturity is the same? It’s no different. One’s spiritual maturity and knowledge is supposed to grow and develop, too!

 Unfortunately, over the 35 years of ordained ministry, I have seen too many Christian adults act like they are stuck in spiritual adolescence. Their faith is still stuck with what they remember from children’s Sunday school and youth group but now their lives are besieged by mature adult problems in a very swirly world. They have matured intellectually, physically, emotionally, professionally, and socially but spiritually they stay stuck in the past and have not grown in their maturity of the faith. The existential adult whirlwinds of crisis, of health, of politics, of climate change, and environmental sustainability can’t be solved nor addressed with a teenaged-depth faith. American Christians need to grow up.

Jewish New Testament scholar, Amy-Jill Levine, in her book, The Misunderstood Jew, The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus, notes the overall culture of religious ignorance in our country. She poignantly writes, “Christians from Tanzania to Tennessee gain their dominant impressions of Jews and Judaism by combining selective readings from the church’s Scriptures with Fiddler on the Roof, current Israeli policies, and an occasional episode of South Park.”[2]

Friends, the reality is the Devil knew his scriptures. The Pharisees and Sadducees knew their Torah and the Law inside and out; that was not the problem. Jesus reminded them, he reminds us, it is how we apply what we know in the Bible with others that measures whether we are both a God-honoring disciple and church or not. Jesus is not so concerned how well you and I can quote scripture as he is if we can apply the ethical, moral, and theological teachings in our everyday life. But yet, we must be well enough acquainted with the scriptures to even learn what the ethical, moral, and theological teachings are that we are to to follow.

Beloved, what virtues and values does your life show?

What spiritual gift or gifts are you graced with and are you using them?

Is your faith maturing ethically, biblically, theologically, and missionally or are you riding the coattails of what you learned years ago as a child? Join me on reflecting upon these things this week. In the Name of the One who is, who was, and who is yet to come. Amen. Let us pray…

© August 4, 2024 by Patrick H. Wrisley. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls, 8 West Notre Dame Street, Glens Falls, NY 12801and may not be altered, re-purposed, published, or preached without permission. All rights reserved.

[1] New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

[2] Amy-Jill Levine, The Misunderstood Jew. The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus (New York: Harper-Collins Publishers, 2007), 11.

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Which One Do You Relate with?, or, The Lord’ll Provide, John 6:1-15

Posted on July 30, 2024 by patrick h wrisley
The Mount of the Beatitudes and the Feeding of the 5,000 overlooking the Sea of Galilee.

A Sermon delivered on July 28, 2024 by Rev. Dr. Patrick H. Wrisley.

Some 81 years ago, a young German pastor named Martin Niemoller stood with a delegation of leaders of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church confronting Adolf Hitler about human rights abuses. When he returned home, his wife asked him what he thought about the meeting. Niemoller told her, “I discovered that Herr Hitler is a terribly frightened man.”[1] It was Hitler’s contagious fear that caused the genocide of millions of people during WWII in his “Final Solution” – a mindset and belief that quickly spread among right-minded, rational German citizens. Family and friends turned on one another and betrayed each other to the Reich out of the fear Hitler and others were sowing among the people.

At best, fear is our human response that keeps us out of trouble or harms way. At worst, fear is the engine that drives paranoia and suspicion. We learn this at an early age. Watch two children play for a while. Presented with a cache of toys, each child gravitates to the object of their desire, takes it, and begins a pile of the toys he or she wants. It does not take long before the little brother or sister goes to the coveted pile of the other and takes a toy they want. Soon thereafter the arguing and crying begins because, “Bobby took my toy! It’s MINE!” Soon, mom must come over and explain the concept of sharing and taking turns. She reminds the children, “You both have plenty of toys to play with. Take turns with them and share with each other.” Little children are afraid they won’t have the toys to play with that they want. There’s an actual word for that made popular by Generation Z: FOMO. Fear of Missing Out.

It’s one thing when a child experiences FOMO over toys. It’s another thing entirely when nations go to war over resources another country enjoys. It’s another thing when large corporations enter a community and make a land grab to pursue its exploration of coal, gas, water, or some other minerals. We’ve seen this in our own country from indigenous peoples saying no to pipelines running through their land. We have witnessed the entire removal of a civilization as the Cherokee were forced to leave southern Appalachia and go west on a death March called the Trail of Tears because white settlers wanted their land.

The reality is, the other side of fear is greed. Taken together, they produce an engine of consumption, exploitation, and selfishness. Consequently, Church, it is good to remind ourselves that as a people of God, we will always have just what we need.

Turn in your Bible to John 6:1-15. It is a story that appears in each of the four gospel accounts. The Jewish Passover is fast approaching, and large crowds are en route to Jerusalem for the festival. The word about Jesus and his healing and teaching has spread, and people cannot get enough of him. This is what is happening in today’s story. In it, I want you to listen for the two responses two different disciples make when confronted with a question. Listen to the word of the Lord.

John 6:1-14

6.1 After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. 2A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. 3Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. 4Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. 5When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” 6He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. 7Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” 8One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” 10Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all.11Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” 13So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. 14When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.” 15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.[2]

Try to imagine this scene as though you were there. John describes a hillside covered with lush grass. We see people milling about, and there is Jesus sitting at the bottom of the hill, looking up at the masses. He sees thousands of physically and spiritually malnourished people who need attention. He sees the need, and now comes the time to understand whether the disciples see it as well. So, he turns and asks Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?”

Can’t you see the incredulity in Philip’s face when he hears that question? I can see Philip giving Jesus a doggy-head-tilt, mumbling, “Say what? What’s this “we stuff” Jesus? A day laborer working and saving for 6 months would only be able to give this crowd a tidbit.” Fortunately, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother who used to be a student of John the Baptist, chimes in. What I love about Andrew is that he is a glass-half-full kind of guy. Andrew sees possibility when impossibility is all around them. “Jesus, there’s a kid over here who has five barley loaves and two fish.”

Andrew, having just pointed out the possibility and solution to the problem, then goes on and says something any old church committee member would say at a session or committee meeting. “What are they among so many?” In other words, Jesus, it’s not enough to go around. We don’t have the resources to pull it off. We can’t do it. It’s risky. We’ve never done something like this before. What if we fail? Have you ever heard those comments or remarks like them in a church committee before? As they would say in Minnesota, “Don’t ya’ know? You betcha!”

As commentator Max Lee writes, “The spiritual and material care of God’s flock is ultimately something miraculous that only God can do. Will the disciples of Christ be paralyzed by the impossibility of the task, or will they present what they have, however meager, and have faith that Jesus can make a miracle out of it?”[3]

Old Testament genius and ethicist, Walter Brueggemann, says, “The majority of the world’s resources pour into the United States. And as we Americans grow more and more wealthy, money is becoming a kind of narcotic for us. We hardly notice our own prosperity or the poverty of so many others. The great contradiction is that we have more and more money and less and less generosity – less and less public money for the needy, less charity for the neighbor.” [4] What’s the reason for this? He says as Christians we have bought into the myth of scarcity versus living into the belief of God’s abundance. We Americans have the propensity to operate out of scarcity, that we will never have enough and need to stockpile our resources. Do you remember the pandemic when you could not find toilet paper because the Smith’s next door hit Walmart with a pickup truck and bought it all out? They probably still have rolls stuck in their closet somewhere!

As Christians, we have forgotten that all that has, is, or ever will be is created by God’s sovereign hand. As Christians, we forget that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. As Christians, we forget how God takes the infertile Sarah and Hannah and gives them children who are heralds of God’s promise. As Christians, we forget how the Hebrews during the exile grumbled against God and Moses because they were hungry and thirsty, and God provided manna and quail from heaven and water from the rock. As Christians, we forget how God used Jesus to transform a ragtag group of men and women into the Church – the holy ones, the separated ones, the Beloved ones of God. As Christians, we forget that in our text today, Philip operated out of the mindset of scarcity whereas Andrew operated out of the possibility of God’s abundance to use what was available. Who do you best relate to in our Story this morning? Philip or Andrew? Scarcity or Abundance?

Catholic activist and co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, Dorothy Day, wrote about her experiences working in a soup kitchen during the last century. She writes, “God has given us our vocation, as he gave it to the small boy who contributed his few loaves and fishes to help the multitude, and which Jesus multiplied so that he fed five thousand people. Loaves and fishes! How much we owe to God in praise, honor, thanksgiving! . . . How many times, all through my life, have I surveyed these tables full of people and wondered if the bread would go around; how many times have I noticed how one heaps his plate and the last one served has little, how one wastes his food and so deprives his brother. (My colleague) German George grumbles as he brings out more sticks of margarine, and refills bread plates, coffeepots, sugar bowls. Where does it all go? Where do all the people come from? How will it all be paid for? But the miracle is that it does get paid for, sooner or later. The miracle is, also, that seldom do more people come than we can feed.”[5]

  There’s an old song by Mike Cross that goes like this:

Big old Buzzard sitting on a fence,watchin’ them chickens play
He’s sitting with his best friend ol’ Chicken Hawk, Chicken Hawk jump up and say,”Why don’t we invite us a chicken home for supper today?”           

And the Buzzard looks at him with a baleful eye,
takes a few seconds ‘fore he give a reply,
turn his neck nearly all the way around,
points to the sky and he says with a frown,
The Lord’ll provide, yes the Lord’ll provide,
just be patient brother and the Lord’ll provide.”

Chicken Hawk says but I’m hungry, my stomach startin’ to rumble like a train,He spies a fat chicken in the barn yard,
Chicken Hawk jumps up and screams,
” I hear the Lord helps them who helps themselves my friend.”
“The Lord’ll provide, yes the Lord’ll provide”,
that’s all brother Buzzard said, “the Lord’ll provide.”

Chicken Hawk starts to chasin’ chickens,
chickens start to squawking and run,
the farmer comes out of the farmhouse,
farmer got a BIG shotgun,
the farmer he blows that Chicken Hawk to kingdom come.

And the Buzzard looks at him with a baleful eye,
takes a few seconds ‘fore he give a reply,
turn his neck nearly all the way around,
and he looks at the Chicken Hawk laying on the ground,
“The Lord’ll provide, yes the Lord’ll provide”,
that’s all brother Buzzard said, “the Lord’ll provide.[6]

Do we believe the Church? Do we really believe the Lord will provide? If the animals do, why don’t we? If we do believe that God is a God of abundance and not of scarcity, it will change the way we live our life and serve as a church. Amen.

©July 28, 2024, by Patrick H. Wrisley. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls, NY, and may not be altered, re-purposed, published, or preached without permission. All rights reserved.

[1] Walter Brueggemann, “The liturgy of abundance, the myth of scarcity”, The Christian Century, March 24, 1999. Accessed on July 26, 2024, at https://www.ngkok.co.za/Artikels/Brueggemann-Abundance-Scarcity.pdf.

[2] The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, 1995 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

[3] Max Lee, Connections: Year B, Volume 3: Season after Pentecost (Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Worship) by Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, et al., https://a.co/57YUIBf..

[4] Brueggemann, Ibid.

[5] Dorothy Day, Loaves and Fishes (New York: Harper & Row, 1963), 210–12. Words in parentheses were added for rhetorical clarity.

[6] Mike Cross, The Lord Will Provide. See Lyrics. Accessed on 7/37/24. To listen to the song, which really is worthwhile, please go to this YouTube Channel.

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