Patriot Day Prayer for the 9/11 Service Held at the Glens Falls, NY Fire Station

Posted on September 11, 2023 by patrick h wrisley

This morning I was given the privilege to help preside with Deputy Chief Izzy Modert and Captain Ric Stafford at the 22nd September 11th Remembrance Ceremony in Glens Falls, NY. Below is the prayer I offered for those of us who gathered in the rain. I was also introduced at the new Chaplain for the Glens Falls Fire Department.

Photo of FDNY Firefighter Tim Duffy by Allen Tannenbaum

God, the One who is, was and ever shall be, we gather in the dreariness of this morning and are reminded of the shadows of pain, loss, and disbelief those moments twenty-two years ago caused. Unimaginable images were burned into our minds and the scars of the day are indelibly etched in our lives.

On this Patriot’s Day, we gather to pause and remember the souls of those who died in the Towers, the Pentagon, and Flight 93; we commit them to your loving and gracious care and ask you would assuage the grief their families still feel.  We commend to you the firefighters, the EMTs, and the police officers who didn’t think twice about running into the buildings in order to save the myriad of strangers who were stunned with shock or wounded. These men and women sacrificed themselves in order to save the lives of others. Some, whose courage we remember and celebrate, never made it out of the towers. Others who did get out are now fighting the illnesses caused by the destructive smoke, chemicals, and debris that blanketed New York that day; we pray for their comfort, healing, and continued courage as they struggle to live healthy lives.

God of redemption and healing, come and dwell in Spirit among your broken people. Transform our tears of sadness into steadfast resolve to work for peace and reconciliation where we live.  Where there is still anger, hatred, and resentment, in your grace and mercy fill us with patience, peacefulness, and forgiveness. Bring comfort to those people whose lives have been scarred by 9/11 and to those who on this day remember the death of a loved one.

On this Patriot Day, God please displace the rancor and disunity our national leaders have proffered and replace them with grassroots civility, unity, and dialogue that have been the hallmark of our great nation. On this day, we pray we will remember all that is good, precious, and beautiful about our nation, and may the Spirit reweave us into the people and country you dream us to be.

Lord, as we remember those who served and died in the past, I ask your tender but ever-so-strong blessing upon the men and women who serve our community today. Surround them with your angels to keep them from harm, send the Spirit to their families who worry about them when they are away on duty, and give their captains and chiefs wisdom beyond their imagined capacity.

Now, Gracious One, we enter into a moment of silence as we lift and remember those who gave their all on this solemn morning….

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My final sermon at First Pres FTL: Final Thoughts, Colossians 4:2-6

Posted on July 24, 2023 by patrick h wrisley

Our morning text comes from Paul’s letter to the church in Colossae. Colossians is a letter written to a church in what is today’s Turkey. His letter focuses on two primary issues confronting the church at the time. You see, some rogue teachers and preachers were infiltrating the church with some bad teaching. On one side, there were those who were using philosophical arguments indicating Jesus was not really who he said he was, i.e., the living embodiment of God – Immanuel. On the other side were those who said that if you want to know Jesus, you had to know “the secret handshake”; in other words, these folks taught in order to have a relationship with Jesus, you must be taught secret knowledge about Jesus. It’s known as the ancient heresy, Gnosticism.

Now at the end of all of Paul’s letters, he takes time to give special encouragement to the letter’s recipients and circles back around to highlight one more time the letter’s key themes. Today, let’s read Colossians 4:2-6. Listen to the Word of the Lord.

Colossians 4:2-6

2Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving. 3At the same time pray for us as well that God will open to us a door for the word, that we may declare the mystery of Christ, for which I am in prison, 4so that I may reveal it clearly, as I should.

5Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time. 6Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone.[1]

His final thoughts to the Church is Colossae are evangelistic in nature and he is urging the community to focus on prayer. It’s not just prayers in general but prayers for the Spirit’s alertness as to when and as to how to share the winsome news of Jesus Christ. Specifically, the Church is called to pray for Paul and his companions that the door of opportunity will be thrown open for them to share that faith even though he is in prison.

The second issue he reminds them of is to be mindful of how they, the Church, present themselves to the larger community. He realizes that people outside the Church will not only judge the Church but more importantly, will judge Jesus by how those of us in the Church act and through what we say or don’t say and how we say it.  The Message paraphrase has verses five and six reads,

Use your heads as you live and work among outsiders. Don’t miss a trick. Make the most of every opportunity. Be gracious in your speech. The goal is to bring out the best in others in a conversation, not put them down, not cut them out.

American Christianity, insert Church, provides two good contemporary examples of the Church’s failure to make the most of the opportunity in speaking the winsome Gospel of renewal to our culture with appropriate words and with grace. This summer, our sisters and brothers in the Southern Baptist Convention declared that women in the church are to be seen and not heard. Sadly, women can teach Sunday school and head up the nursery but god forbid they stand in the pulpit and declare the Gospel! If they do, the church will be kicked out of the convention. The two largest Baptist churches in the nation left because they valued women’s leadership.[2]

The other scenario where the Church has not conducted itself wisely with seasoned, appropriate words of grace is with the gay community. The church for centuries has failed miserably and has exchanged the winsome words of love and Christ’s reconciling work for words that build walls of exclusion and hate. There have been former pastors of this very church in years past who had the gall to look at a gay man in the eyes and tell him, “You need to leave this church. Your kind isn’t welcome here.” When I heard this man share his story with me, my heart broke.  What does it communicate to the world when the church says it welcomes the broken, the homeless, the sick, the aged, the migrant but if you’re gay or different than me, there’s no room for you here? I thank God those days are over in this church! One of the things I leave here grateful for is that under our time together, First Presbyterian has become a welcome and affirming congregation for all of God’s children. We are a church whose members follow the banner of Jesus Christ; in the wake created by following Jesus together, we learn to love and better understand one another as we go. The flag we will rally behind, whether you’re gay or straight, is the banner of the Cross of Christ as we take it out in the world in mission!

So, these are some of Paul’s final thoughts directed to the church in Colossae. I want to offer you, beloved, my final thoughts to you. What is it I want you to remember after I am gone?

Whether or not you were aware of it, for the last almost six years I have been sharing the core values I wanted you to marinate in while I was here. If you were astute, you recognized that I do things a little differently as a pastor. As Paul spoke of seasoning our words with salt, I want to share with you six different seasonings I add to every worship service in order to marinate and season your soul with what I think are priorities in our walking the Way of Jesus. This is how I personally, week after week, try to make the most of every opportunity to declare the winsome Word wisely.

How do I start every worship service? Do you remember? “Shhh. Listen!” I always call for us as a community to become silent, still, and expectant. “Shhh. Listen! The Holy Spirit is in this place!” Each week I begin our worship service by reminding us we are now entering God’s time and we are to be alert and aware of the Presence of the Spirit in our midst. I want us to prepare ourselves to expect God to show up and make a difference in our lives.

The second bit of seasoning I add each Sunday is to then remind us of whose Presence we are in: In the Name of the One who is, who was, and who is to come, grace and peace to you in the Name of Jesus Christ, good morning. First, I call us to be silent but then I remind us whom we are to look for: Jesus. We are not looking for “Six Principles for Spiritual Living” or anything like that; no, Church, we are called to look for and encounter our Lord Jesus. Our faith begins and ends with the man from Nazareth.

The third subtle value I have tried to instill in you is that when we say the Lord’s Prayer, we are to end it on a high note, not a low one. It’s a powerful prayer straight from the lips of our Lord and so often Church, we pray it, “for thine is the kingdom, power, and glory…amen.” Friends, the early church made a point of adding doxology at the end of this prayer! It’s to end on a high note because it so succinctly reminds us how we are to live our lives in God and with one another. “For Thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, FOREVER! AMEN!” It ends on an expectant upbeat!

This fourth one is probably the one you will most remember. How do I greet you from the pulpit each week? “Good morning, saints! Good morning, sinners!” I had one man tell me that my saying this week after week was hackneyed; I smiled and said that’s okay – you’re still in one of the groups!”

Why do I say this each week? Is it simply to get a chuckle out of you before I start preaching? Nope. I greet you that way because I want those of you who feel all high and mighty in your faith to remember you are as much a broken mess as everyone else. I want to those of you who feel you are worthless and unlovable to remember you are a dearly loved adopted child of God. The Church is a microcosm of the larger world but with this one difference: Christ-followers understand and acknowledge who we are as redeemed sinners and that we stand equal with everyone in need of God’s loving grace.

The fifth and sixth values I’ve tried to marinate you in are usually thrown in the rue together. One is an invitation. The other is a blessing. I learned this from the late W. Frank Harrington of the Peachtree Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. I worked as one of his associates decades ago. He was not the easiest person to work for or get along with, but he did love the Church and those who worked for him learned a lot.

Frank always gave an invitation at the end of the service. We Presbyterians might grumble that it feels too ‘Baptist’ and we are above the need to belabor the obvious that we are invited to come and walk with Jesus. What I have learned over the years is there are very few Mainline pastors, albeit Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran, or Episcopalian that invite people to contemplate an offer to follow Jesus or learn what that even means. It doesn’t have to mean Reid plays fifteen stanzas of Just As I Am until someone throws in the towel because they have had enough and grovels down the center aisle and gets “slain in the Spirit.” No! It’s just a simple invitation to you that says, “If your week really sucked, if you are in crisis at home or at work, if you are in the depths of grief and are at your wits-end, Jesus is gently knocking at the door of your heart, and he wants to come and in and visit with you.” In training younger pastors, I remind them if they do this, they will speak to someone in the congregation who now knows it is safe to come and talk about their faith and learn about Jesus.

Coupled with my invitation each week, I give a blessing. The final bit of seasoning I pull out of my cupboard is to declare God’s blessing upon you. “The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord shine his face upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn his face upon you and smile brightly, gently, giving you the peace of Jesus Christ.” 

It drives me nuts when I hear pastors screw up this great Aaronic blessing[3] when they say, “MAY the Lord bless you and keep you. MAY the Lord Shine his face…MAY the Lord turn his face upon you…” One, they’re quoting it incorrectly but more importantly, they are taking a declarative charge and are making it just a mere possibility.

“God might or might not bless you and keep you. God might or might not shine his face or lift his face upon you.”   Andrew Pervus, Professor of Reformed Theology at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary says we have taken a declarative blessing and have watered it down into a vacuous optative maybe or maybe not. By misquoting Moses from the Book of Numbers, pastors have blessed congregations with nothing more than a big, empty “Good luck! Because God may or may not be with you!”

Beloved, I want you to know that you know that you know that as you leave worship, God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost’s blessing is wrapped around you like a warm coat on a cold winter’s night. There’s no maybe about it.

Shhh! Listen! The Spirit of God is in this place! Saints and sinners, with a spirited doxology of gratitude and love, it’s been a privilege to serve you in the Name of the One Who is, Who was, and Who is to come. Amen.

© 2023 Patrick H. Wrisley, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, 401 SE 15th Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL. 33301. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and 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] See https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/southern-baptist-convention-bans-female-pastors-ejecting-several-churches-in-the-process#:~:text=Southern%20Baptist%20Convention%20bans%20female%20pastors%2C%20ejecting%20several%20churches%20in%20the%20process,-Jun%2015%2C%202023&text=The%20Southern%20Baptist%20Convention%20moved,leadership%20roles%20in%20its%20churches.

[3] Numbers 6:23-26. The great priestly blessing.

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Forget the Soil; Let’s Talk About the Seed! Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Posted on July 17, 2023 by patrick h wrisley

This morning we are picking back up in the Gospel account from Matthew. Go ahead and turn in your Bible to Matthew 13 and we are going to start with verse one. Matthew 13 is a highly packed and dense chapter filled with7 parables, 7 brief Stories that outline for the disciples what the Kingdom of Heaven is like.

The Kingdom of heaven is a term Matthew likes to use when describing Jesus’ work among us; instead of giving a profound theological lecture on what the Kingdom of heaven is like, Jesus uses storytelling to get his point across. Aristotle, the great philosopher, taught his students that before you teach, give a speech, or engage in discourse, the speaker must know his or her audience and speak to them in ways that they will understand. Well, this is precisely what Jesus is doing in Matthew 13. He uses parables, brief sayings whose content is quickly relatable to the common person. Jesus is telling Stories about farming and nature itself that his audience could connect with. Yet, parables are funny things. Sometimes they are easy to understand while at other times, they cause the listener to give a doggie head tilt and force them to dig deeper than the prima facia meaning of the text. In a parable, the Story always points to something deeper than what is seen at face value. Listen to the Word of the Lord!

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

                  13.1That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea.2Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow.4And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. 5Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil.6But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. 7Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9Let anyone with ears listen!” —

             18“Hear then the parable of the sower. 19When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. 20As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. 22As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. 23But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”[1]

As far as parables go, Jesus really begins with a softball. We do not have to dig too hard to learn that Jesus describes four different ways people respond to the Kingdom of heaven. First, there are those whose lives are too busy or full to even hear the Stories; all their cares, the little birds of their life, come down like pigeons who walk around at their feet snatching up anything that happens to fall to the ground.

Second, there are those rocky people who hear about the Kingdom of heaven but have no interior root system that helps interpret for them what Jesus and the Kingdom are like. To put it another way, these are the people I call Chreasters, those people who come to Church on Christmas and Easter. They do not try to grow their faith whatsoever but simply come to church as part of a social expectation placed upon them by their family or culture “that it’s the right thing to do.” These are the parents who make promises at their children’s baptisms to raise their kids up in the church and teach them the doctrines of faith in order to help them learn about Jesus but then never show up to church again after their kid’s baptism.

Next, there are those people who receive the seed, but the Good News about Jesus and the whimsical Kingdom of heaven gets choked out by the cares of the world. Instead of pushing roots down and out to find nourishment, these people succumb to the pressures of the day, the job, the kids, the finances, or their neighbors, and their faith is choked out like a fighter in the ring for the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Fourth and finally, there are those who receive the seed, make room for the seed to take root and grow, care for the seed, and watch it produce an incredible harvest. The seed gets the opportunity to do what it was designed to do and that is multiply and yield new life! Jesus reminds us that these are the people who hear and understand the message and put it into practice.

Let’s pause a moment. The way we typically hear this parable is to personally identify with one of the soils in the Story. We hear the parable read and start clicking off in our head, “OK, I’m not the hard-pack road; I’m not rocky and have depth; I turn to God when I’m in a scrape and don’t let the cares of life choke my faith; and, lastly, by god, I’m in church this morning listening to a sermon, so I obviously have good soil and demonstrate faith to others!” I always find it funny how people hear this Story and for the most part, identify and place themselves in the “good soil” category simply because they are doing churchy things. I have to chuckle because that is exactly what the Pharisees and scribes and all the uptight religious folk thought in Matthew 12 preceding our text this morning. The churchy-folk were put off when they found out Jesus was really talking about them and as we read in Matthew 12:14, “But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.”

This morning, I invite us to hear this parable from a different perspective. Instead of hearing it and applying it to ourselves individually, let’s hear it as I think Matthew originally intended. Remember, Matthew was writing his Gospel for members of the early Christian church. It’s a Story meant to tell second-generation Christians who Jesus was and what he came to do as well as to paint the picture of how the Church is to keep the Story alive and growing in the community. The First Nation’s Version of the New Testament captures this beautifully in verse 19; it’s a translation that was written by the Indigenous peoples of our country. It reads, “The seed in this story is the message from the Great Spirit about his Good Road.”[2] Our indigenous brothers and sisters call the “Kingdom of heaven” in a way that cuts through all theological double-talk. The Kingdom of heaven Jesus speaks of is called the “good road.”  The seed in the Story is the message, the Word, from God about living and moving upon the Good Road now, and it’s written to and for the Church!

Church, how well are we walking, living, and moving along the good road? What type of dent in the world are we knocking out for the Kingdom of heaven right here in Broward County and beyond? Church, how well are we abiding by Jesus’ first word in today’s Story?

The very first word Jesus utters is this: Hey! Pay attention! Listen! (13.3) He then repeats in verse 18, “Listen up!” Church, he’s talking to us. Dale Bruner, a retired professor from Whitworth University in Washington, says today’s parable about the seed and the soil gives the moral imperative that the church’s primary responsibility in life is, “to listen with one’s life to the Seed of the Word of God.”[3]

Church, are we listening? Are we giving room for the seed of the Kingdom, the Good Road, to find root and nourishment? Have American Christians become so dull to a living faith they ceased being Church at all? Church, have we become too rocky and impenetrable that we are reticent to give up “the way we always did it” and allow new seeds to be planted and grow? Church, have we become too focused on how many butts are in the pews and what our financial condition is that we are choking out God’s exciting, winsome plans for planting the Good Road through us? Church, are we collectively and are you individually as a part of the community, cultivating deep into your spiritual soil so that when the Seed of Christ’s Word lands in your heart and life it will find the conditions to grow and multiply?

Bruner sardonically reminds us, “Matthew’s Jesus is aware that probably the major scandal in Christianity, not least for Christians themselves, is that comparatively few live as such.” In other words, our Story reminds us that only 25% of us who comprise the Church even get it.[4]  As another commentator writes, “A seed contains forces of life and transformation. It encapsulates potential; but as potential, its actual future is open.”[5] Church, what open future shall we grow?

Church, forget the soil. Let’s focus on the seed, the gospel of Jesus that promises we can live on God’s Good Road right now. Church, let’s put ourselves in the character of the sower in our Story. How well are we with all reckless abandon throwing seed of the Kingdom upon every inch of ground we see leaving its growth to God’s Spirit? That, Church, is what we are called to hear. That’s what Jesus is demanding we listen to and act upon.

Back in the 1980s, scientists in Norway began storing seeds endemic to Norway in an abandoned coal mine on the island of Spitsbergen. Since that time, it has evolved to become the Svalbard Global Seed Vault where seeds from around the world are kept safe in order to protect the world’s global food supply.[6] Beloved, for too long, the Church has behaved as though we are a spiritual version of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, keeping the winsome seed of the Gospel, the Kingdom of heaven, the way of the Good Road, hidden and locked away for safekeeping. Beloved, our world is literally dying; the ocean temperature off our beach hit 98 degrees! Sea life cannot survive that long term. Our world is dying from wars and acts of hate and violence. Beloved, we need to open the doors and spread the Story of Jesus as winsomely, enthusiastically, and purposefully as possible! Oh, how the world needs Jesus!

And all of God’s sweet children say, Amen!

© 2023 Patrick H. Wrisley, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, 401 SE 15th Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL. 33301.  Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and 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] First Nation’s Version: An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2021). See the article at https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2021/september/first-nations-version-indigenous-bible-ivp-translation-wild.html.

[3] Dale Frederick Bruner, Matthew: A Commentary. Vol. II: The Churchbook, Matthew 13-28 (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1990), 8.

[4] Ibid., 19.

[5] Feasting on the Gospels–Matthew, Volume 1: A Feasting on the Word Commentary by Cynthia A. Jarvis, E. Elizabeth Johnson. See https://a.co/aUrHlrX.

[6]See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_Global_Seed_Vault. Accessed July 16, 2023.

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Side by Side, Matthew 11:25-30

Posted on July 11, 2023 by patrick h wrisley

A sermon delivered by Dr. Patrick H Wrisley on Sunday, July 9, 2023

Years ago, the former President of Princeton Seminary, Dr. Robert Gillespie, was speaking at a conference about the state of the church and culture. He said, “We are living in an Age of Carnival.”  He went on the explain that the culture we are living in today is seriously out of balance.  In the throes of postmodernity, anything goes and the demands of the many voices vying for our attention, affection, and worship are always barking at us.

In the midst of the carnival barkers shouting, the Church has been swept up in this Age of Carnival as well. We simply have to look at the last three years and note how the pandemic threw us into a swirly mess. The Church had to pivot quickly and daily respond to the pressures of “how to do Church” in that time of COVID.  Our text this morning has something to say to us as we live in this Age of Carnival.

Our Gospel reading comes from Matthew 11:25-30 and Jesus has something to say to us and the Church in these swirly times; turn in your Bibles and listen to the Word of the Lord.

25At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; 26yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 27All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Jesus begins by thanking his Father that it’s the little people, the common people, the folks we bump carts with at Target and Walmart who are the ones who have the capacity to hear and receive the Good News of his message. Their minds are not cluttered with pomp, pretension, and an overblown sense of pride that muffles the sounds of God’s whispers of grace. And then he gives us that wonderful invitation “to come unto me all who are weary…” These few verses in our text are a refreshing change to the ones who first heard his words just as they are to us.

Because the promise Jesus makes is so profound, I want us to hear verses 28 – 30 from two other sources. The first is from the First Nations Version of the New Testament written by a council of America’s indigenous peoples. The second is from the late Presbyterian pastor/linguist/new church planter, Eugene Peterson, and the Message. Hear again, afresh, the Word of God.

Then he turned to the ones who walked the road with him. 28 Come close to my side, you whose hearts are on the ground, you who are pushed down and worn out, and I will refresh you. 29 Follow my teachings and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest from your troubled thoughts. 30Walk side by side with me and I will share in your heavy load and make it light.”[i]

            The Message reads,

28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

These two versions of our Story really help me to clear away the dirt in order to clearly see what lies beneath waiting to be discovered…

You whose hearts are on the ground.

Walk side by side with me and I will share in your heavy load.

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me.

Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.

Beloved, these are words written to a people who were exhausted by the demands and pressures of their faith. For the Jewish people of the day, they couldn’t do enough to satisfy God’s needs, at least according to the priests, Pharisees, and Scribes. Participating in religious life had morphed from honoring God in all of one’s life to becoming a complex punch list honoring the edicts of what one was supposed to do in order to be loved and approved so as to maintain standing in the religious community or in the Jewish culture. To put it modernly, “Going to church and being part of a religious community was just no fun anymore.”

Has anyone here ever felt that way before? For the Jewish audience who heard Jesus’ words, the word yoke had special significance as the yoke of the Torah was well-known to the people of the first century.  The Yoke was the compilation of the various teachings and interpretations of Jewish Law. Over the centuries, rabbis and Jewish religious scholars kept adding their own nuanced interpretations to what the Torah said and over time those interpretations, called midrash, were considered to be a part of the Law itself. With each passing generation, the weight of the Law kept on getting heavier and heavier and heavier and harder and harder to maintain and keep. For folks back then, having a relationship with God was just plain hard and difficult. There was not enough you could do to be considered good enough to be held in God’s arms. Sadly, in some contemporary Christian churches and circles, that same narrow view is still held.

And then Jesus shows up.

And then Jesus redefines the meaning of the yoke. Jesus’ yoke is defined by the Beatitudes and the spirit of the teachings in his Sermon on the Mount. His yoke is very simply stated that if you want to be loved and cared for by God, then…

Become poor in Spirit;

Be sensitive to those around you and mourn for the things that bring God pain;

Be gentle and meek, hunger and thirst for living a life that is set apart from the rest of the world where people can see you loving others;

Be merciful and show pity to those who are undeserving;

Be pure and clear in the depths of who you are, and you will see God working in and about you;

Become adopted as God’s child when you bend your heart to working towards making peace with others and cease sniping about them behind their backs;

And finally, because you will be living this counter-cultural way of life, be prepared to be mocked and ridiculed because of it.

Jesus makes it pretty simple really. He doesn’t place upon us a bunch of rules to follow; rather, he says the way to be a child of God is simply to live into these simple and basic values like he does.  His yoke is not about sacrificing and doing “stuff” for God to earn God’s favor; his yoke is to model the way God sacrifices and lives for us. His yoke is when his followers start living in a way that makes an impact on their very neighbors and the people they meet at the gas station. If you read the Beatitudes carefully, you will see that what Jesus is asking us to do is live our lives for the other and when we do, God shows up.

And yet, being poor in spirit, gentle and meek, merciful, and persecuted is not always easy to live into, is it? And that’s where the yoke is most important. As one scholar has said, “We do not see many yokes around these days. Indeed, we may forget that a yoke—a wooden bar or frame that joins two animals together so they can pull a heavy load—is not only something that is meant for two but something that was used by farmers to train inexperienced animals for their work. Less experienced beasts of burden would be teamed with more experienced ones so that the neophyte could learn how to pull the weight of the plow.”[ii] And who is the one who promises to teach and place his yoke upon us? Jesus himself. Jesus is inviting you and me to join him, side by side, so we can walk along together as he shows us how to do it, lifts the burden when it’s too heavy for us to plow through alone, and encourages us with words of direction when we get tired and falter in our steps. 

Church, the nexus of today’s lectionary passage and my privilege of being with you today is no accident. For five years, you as a church have been plowing rocky fields as best you have been able. In my heart, I feel called to come alongside you and stand under the yoke with you. I come offering to help shoulder the burden with you, to help cut straight furrows as we live out the Beatitudes together. I come to offer words of encouragement, recalibration, and direction when you get tired and falter in your steps. I am no Jesus, that’s for sure. I’m just a simple shepherd who wants to help carry the load with you.

I want to walk with you whose hearts are on the ground.

Let’s walk side by side letting me share in your heavy load.

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion or Church? Together let’s joyously and winsomely live a shared journey of impact in and through this place.

Together, let’s learn the unforced rhythms of grace so that we can let it overflow into the community. And the people of God all say, Amen.

© 2023 Patrick H. Wrisley. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church, 400 Glen Avenue, Glens Falls, NY 12801, and may not be altered, re-purposed, published, or preached without permission.   All rights reserved.

[i] First Nations Version. An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Pres, 2021).

[ii] Feasting on the Gospels–Matthew, Volume 1: A Feasting on the Word Commentary by Cynthia A. Jarvis, E. Elizabeth Johnson. See https://a.co/28nWvTk.

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What’s at Stake?, Genesis 22:1-14

Posted on July 3, 2023 by patrick h wrisley

A sermon preached by Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min., July 2, 2023, Proper 8, Year A

Today’s scripture begins with the words, “After these things”, and being good students of the Bible, our first duty is to ask, “What things?”

Last week, Pastor Nic shared the Story about Abraham, his concubine Hagar, and their child Ishmael. We learned there was some familial discord because Abraham’s wife, Sarah, demanded that “those two get out of my house” for reasons we are not exactly sure about. So, Abraham, who we must remember is an already proven entrepreneur and businessman, an able leader of troops on the battlefield, and who is extremely rich by the time this Story was taken down, dutifully obeyed his wife. He sent Hagar and Ishmael off into the wilderness with a loaf of bread, a skein of water, and I only would hope, a kiss goodbye (21:14). Personally, I don’t think it is one of Abraham’s high points in his story. Just bread and water? Really?

Oh, and then there are the two different times (12:10 ff., 20:1ff.) when Abraham passed off his wife Sarah as his sister to royalty in Egypt and Canaan because he was afraid they would kill him to steal her away because of her beauty. His decision had dire consequences for the unknowing Egyptians and Canaanites.

And one more thing – the first eleven chapters of Genesis describe how God created all there is and desired relationship with the people he created but they kept blowing God off and worshipped handmade gods and built magnificent structures like the Tower of Babel. The people were not too impressed with the Creator God, nor did they think they needed the Lord. This is when God hit the reboot button with Noah and the flood and God would try again; this time, though, God would reveal Godself to one person, one family, and to one particular group of people enabling them to show to the whole world God’s plan for justice and righteousness. And we know this is Abraham, his family, and the generations to follow all the way to Jesus of Nazareth. Listen to the Word of the Lord from Genesis 22:1-14!

            22.1 After these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away. 5Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you.” 6 Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. And the two of them walked on together. 7 Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them walked on together.

            9 When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place “The Lord will provide,” as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

Friends, this is a sticky and difficult text because it immediately assaults our sensibilities about how a benevolent God would demand harm to a child.

“What father would sacrifice his son?”

“Are you saying God condones child sacrifice?”

We have read and heard stories of how people have twisted texts like this one to condone child abuse and battery “because the Bible said it’s okay!” Well, let’s get this point straight away: The Bible doesn’t say it’s okay. We must stick with the text!

Verse one reads, “After these things, God tested Abraham.” The purpose of this Story is less about Isaac as it is about the evolving relationship between God and Abraham. God doesn’t want Abraham to kill Isaac; there is no competent biblical scholar who believes God had any intention of having Isaac killed. The late Old Testament scholar Terrence Fretheim writes that it’s not God’s intention to kill Isaac and receive a sacrifice. Rather it’s to test the metal of Abraham’s faithfulness “which is essential if God is to move into the future with him (Abraham).”[1]

We often hear this Story and immediately go to the place where we think, “Look at what’s at stake for Abraham! Look at what’s at stake for Isaac!”  Both are good and reasonable statements. Yet, what I want us to reflect upon this morning is to ask a third question we often don’t think about: What’s at stake for God?

In our mutual faith journeys, if we are honest, we usually focus on what’s at stake for me in my life and you in yours. What are the consequences if I take this job? What are the opportunities if I marry this person? What might happen to us if we get pregnant now? Which cancer treatment should I follow? What will my options be if I fail this exam? These are all natural questions we each ask and think about. I am simply asking us to step out of the “Me Mode” and ponder what the stakes are confronting God at any given time…like in today’s Story with Abraham.

The only ones in this Story who know this is a test are God and each of us. Abraham is clueless he is undergoing a test to plumb the depths of his faithfulness. We might cynically say, “Well God is omniscient and already knew how Abraham would respond” but if that were indeed the case, why did God need to test him?  We also do not have any indication that this is a test to teach Abraham any lesson. Abraham hears God and then obediently reacts to what he is told. The request for sacrifice is to confirm one thing and one thing only: Does Abraham trust God? Or, to put it another, more radical way, can God trust Abraham? The only one who learns anything from our Story is God when he declares to Abraham in verse 12, “Now I know that you fear God.” The test is for God’s benefit.

Church of the Brethren pastor and author, Eugene Roop says that in our Story today, “God took the risk that Abraham would respond. Abraham took the risk God would provide.”[2]  What’s at stake for God in our Story is the depth of Abraham’s faith and whether or not there will indeed be a future with and through him. Even though God likely knew what Abraham would do, God did not have absolute certainty that Abraham would pass the test. You see, God has plans to express himself to all people through Abraham and his lineage culminating in Jesus; God places the shape of those plans in Abraham’s hands.[3] Yes, God and God’s plans have a lot at stake in what Abraham either does or does not do.

I suppose what I want to know is what does God have at stake in your life of Christ-followership and in mine? What does God have at stake in the way the elders of this church steer her and guide her? What does God have at stake by the way you cast your vote or support the candidate you support? Beloved, if we think what we do or do not individually do does not matter or will not impact others, even God, we are deluded.

Each of us is the trim tab on a ship’s rudder. The rudder glides through the water and guides the general direction of the ship but it is the trim tab, a small rudder on the ship’s rudder that gives the ship its precise direction and position. If God’s mission in the World is represented by a ship, the Church is the ship’s rudder guiding it through the water. But, beloved, each of us in our walk with God is a trim tab giving God’s ministry in the church specific direction and precision.

Beloved, God has a stake in you. What you and I do or fail to do matters to God and makes a difference in the world. Each and every day, like Abraham, we are being tested in big things and in small things. How we respond to those tests gives direction to the ministry God has planned for each of us and for this church.

Friends, God knows it’s hard for us. That’s why it’s important to remember that in this powerful meal of bread and wine, we are being fed from the hand of the Savior and are given food for our arduous journey. It is food that will lead us to the land of Moriah, the place for clarity and vision, so we will know how to assuredly walk in the footsteps of Christ. Then again, if we fail or fall during our test, this meal is our source of strength, hope, and encouragement to reach up and grasp the Lord’s hand again as Jesus looks at us and says, “C’mon sweetheart. Let’s try this one more time and see if you can get it right.”

So be it.

© 2023 Patrick H. Wrisley, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, 401 SE 15th Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL. 33301.  Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and may not be altered, re-purposed, published or preached without permission. All rights reserved.

[1] Terrence E. Fretheim, The Book of Genesis, The New Interpreters Bible, Vol. 1 (Nashville: Abington Press, 1994), 497.

[2] Eugene F. Roop, Genesis (Scottdale, PA: Herald, 1987), 151.

[3] Fretheim, Ibid.

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