Stolen

A poem in response to the painting, “Wagon Wheel” by Michele Wood in the I Lay My Stitches Down series on display in the Covenant Fine Arts Center at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI in April 2104.  In the painting, a slave woman is morning as a white man takes her daughter forcibly.  The white man's shadow has horns like a devil.

Stolen, stolen!

My baby’s been stolen.

She don’t belong to you.

She aint come from insite you.

She aint suck from yo teet.

You aint woke with her sick at night

Burning hot as blazes

Hot as the pot in the fire.

She my life.  She my blood.

She mine, mine, mine.

Stolen, stolen?

Why you wailin woman?

She don’t belong to you no ways.

You aint bought her at market.

You aint put meat on her plate.

You aint put clothes on her back. 

You stood waiting at market

Burning hot as blazes

Hot as the pot in the fire.

She my stock.  She my goods.

She mine, mine, mine.

Stolen, stolen.

He don’t belong to hisself.

He aint chose his own way.

He aint thought bout what he do.

He go to church and say his prayers

And do my will.

He work and work and work,

But I there all the time

Burning hot as blazes

Hot as the pot in the fire.

He my life.  He my blood.

He mine, mine, mine.

What the Bible says about CANCER

1. God hates cancer.  

Jesus taught us to pray, “May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).  Revelation tells us that in heaven, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain” (21:4).  God is on our side in the fight against cancer, and one day, God will win.

2. God suffers with us.  Isaiah 63:9, “In all their suffering he also suffered.”  Like a parent hurting with a child, God is right there with us, crying right along with us.  

3. God can use anything.  

I’m not saying that God causes cancer, but God can definitely use anything - even hurtful things - for good.  God can redeem pain for healing.  Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”  Sometimes the most important lessons are the most painful.  Sometimes the most important life changes emerge from the pit of suffering.  Even in the midst of great loss, we can always ask, “God, what do you want to teach me through this?”  

4. God is not threatened by our pain, doubts, or anger.  

As you grieve, read through the Psalms.  Learn from the lament psalms.  It’s OK to complain to God.  It is good to shout at God if you feel like shouting.  It is OK to question God’s goodness.  God can handle it, and if you don’t express it, it will eat you up inside.

5. God is bigger than our pain.

When we lose a loved one, that pain can block out the sun.  The pain of loss can be all consuming, a black hole sucking us down.  It’s OK to feel the pain.  It’s OK to feel like you can’t go on.  But in the midst of the pain and the storm and the feelings of drowning in despair, hold on to God.  God also lost a loved one - a son.  Jesus died an extremely painful death at an early age, so God knows that pain.  But God’s mighty power also raised Jesus from the dead and began the redemption of all suffering.  I don’t know why evil and suffering are in the world, but I know that good wins.  I know that God wins.  No matter how bad the pain, remember that God’s good love is greater still.  

Temptation to Take Over - Audio

Here is the audio for my first sermon at Duneland Community Church.  I had a fairly long intro with jokes and introductions, so it picks up as I'm explaining the significance of the word "Hosanna" in John 12:12-33.

¹² The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. ¹³ They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,

“Hosanna!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Blessed is the king of Israel!”

¹⁴ Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:

¹⁵ “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;
    see, your king is coming,
    seated on a donkey’s colt.”

¹⁶ At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.

¹⁷ Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. ¹⁸ Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. ¹⁹ So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”
²⁰ Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival.²¹ They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” ²² Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.
²³ Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴ Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. ²⁵ Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶ Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
²⁷ “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. ²⁸ Father, glorify your name!”
Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” ²⁹ The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.
³⁰ Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. ³¹ Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. ³² And I, when I am lifted up  from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” ³³ He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

To listen to the sermon, click here.  To read the full text, click here.

Temptation to Take Over (Palm Sunday)

First, I want to start out by thanking Greg for giving me an easy topic for my first Sunday preaching here.  I get all the really easy stuff like temptation, evil, deliverance, prayer, - oh and tie it all into Palm Sunday while you’re at it.  Now to be fair, Greg said I could wuss out and take the sermon on forgiveness last week.  He didn’t actually say the words “wuss out,” but I could see it in his eyes.  

But, since I’m not a sissy preacher, here I am, and here you are.  We’ve got a tough text on a tough Sunday, so let’s dig in.

Jesus enters Jerusalem with the crowds shouting, Hosanna!  Now, that’s not a word we use everyday.  

• How are you today?  Hosanna!   
• The Hoosiers won again.  Hosanna!  

If this word isn’t from our daily vocabulary, it must come from somewhere else.  It must have a whole other background and history.  

Hosanna is actually a Hebrew word, and it is used several times in the Psalms.  It means literally, “Lord, save us!”  But it also has the connotation of praise, something like Hallelujah! 

But there’s even more background for this word.  Remember Jerusalem was chock-full of Jews because it was the beginning of the Passover Festival.  This was the time when the Israelites remembered how God set them free from slavery in Egypt.  Every year, hundreds of thousands of Jews flocked to Jerusalem to pray for freedom again - freedom from the oppression of the Roman Empire.  And every year at Passover, the Roman armies in Jerusalem went on red alert, with every soldier on duty and every garrison ready for war - just in case the people revolted, again.

So when Jesus enters Jerusalem, and people start shouting “Hosanna!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!  Blessed is the King of Israel!” this is not normal.  Even more, they are waving palm branches, which was a special kind of cultural celebration to welcome a king. 

So these Jews aren’t just throwing confetti.  They aren’t just having a welcome-to-Jerusalem party for Jesus.  They are welcoming a Messiah to set them free.  

  In the first few centuries after Jesus, various Jewish leaders led revolts claiming to be the Messiah.  Archeologists discovered some coins from one of these periods of revolt.  They were the normal Jewish coins with the face of Caesar, but over the top of Caesar’s face was stamped the image of a palm branch.  

So in our passage today, Palm Sunday and “Hosanna” are not innocent images of joy and praise, these are the actions and words of revolt.  These people were trying to start a revolt.  They were declaring to all the world that Jesus was their new king.

But here’s the real question.  Why did they want Jesus as their king?  

By Gracious Powers: A Poem by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered,
And confidently waiting come what may,
We know that God is with us night and morning,
And never fails to greet us each new day.

Yet is this heart by its old foe tormented,
Still evil days bring burdens hard to bear;
Oh, give our frightened souls the sure salvation,
For which, O Lord, you taught us to prepare.

And when this cup you give is filled to brimming
With bitter suffering, hard to understand,
We take it thankfully and without trembling
Out of so good and so beloved a hand.

Yet when again in this same world you give us
The joy we had, the brightness of your sun,
We shall remember all the days we lived through
And our whole life shall then be yours alone.

By gracious powers so faithfully protected,
So quietly, so wonderfully near,
I'll live each day in hope, with you beside me,
And go with you through every coming year.



- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, "Letters and Papers from Prison."

The Just Trust (Habakkuk 2)

You talked back, and we heard.

• Why does God create people with mental illnesses?
• Why do so many people do good with bad results or do bad and are constantly blessed?
• If God is love, and God is good, then why does a good God allow suffering?

You talked back, and God heard you.  Before you even asked the questions, almost a year ago, God led our worship planners to plan a series on the Minor Prophets.  Somehow,God led us to the book of Habakkuk, which answers your questions directly.  

Habakkuk has the same kinds of questions.  Adam introduced them last week.  

• Why is there so much injustice in the world?
• How can God allow evil people to prosper while good people suffer?
• Where is the God who is supposed to protect us and to take care of us?
• Where is the justice in this messed up world?

Even a prophet has doubts and questions.  Perhaps, it’s the prophets especially who voice the questions and doubts.  Maybe they are the honest ones who say what everyone is thinking and feeling.

It’s time for you to get a little prophetic.  In your bulletin, you’ll find a piece of black paper.  On this paper, write down your biggest doubts and questions about our world.  How is our world unjust?  What bothers you the most about our world?  When you think abou the global situation or your personal life situation, what makes you really angry?  Write it down.  I’m not going to ask you to read it to anyone or to talk to anyone.  The paper is black so that even your neighbor or your spouse can’t read what you’re writing.  Be completely honest.  Use all caps and explanation points and curse words if you want.  No one will see it.

OK, go ahead and write.

---

Now, hold on to that paper and that doubt for a few minutes as we turn to Habakkuk.  He asked God his questions.  He shouted at God, and then God answered.  Today, we’re going to read Habakkuk 2, which gives us God’s longest answer to Habakkuk.  We’ll start where Adam left off last week.

Caution and Challenge (1 Samuel 17)

Read 1 Samuel 17.

“David and Goliath” is one of the world’s best known Bible stories.  It is the classic story of victory for the “underdog.”  David and Goliath are now part of the global vocabulary.  When a small company enters a new market, reporters call it a “David and Goliath” situation.  This is a “feel good” story that we all love to love.

But this very familiarity creates a problem.  We are so likely to hear this story wrong.  We are so likely to apply it incorrectly to our lives.  If we take the simple childlike version of this story and apply it to our grown-up lives, we could get a gross distortion of the Christian message.  This story has an important message for us, but we have to be careful how we get there.  Today, as we talk about David and Goliath, I want to offer us four cautions and one challenge.  

First the cautions.

Caution #1: Don’t assume using God’s name leads to victory.

History is littered with people and nations who got this wrong.  Even the Bible tells one story after another of people who misused God’s name in battle.  

In the book of Numbers, when Israel finally got to the borderland of Canaan, they chickened out and decided to go back to Egypt.  God told them to go into the desert for more lessons in faith, but the people changed their minds again and decided that they would try to fight the Canaanites after all.  “‘Let’s go,’ they said. ‘We realized that we have sinned, but we are ready to enter the land the LORD has promised us’” (Numbers 14:40).  They marched forward in God’s name as God’s people to the land God had promised, and they were soundly defeated.  They used God’s name, but they were still not faithful to God.

Community Art Project: Exodus 15, Isaiah 25

This is the last installment of our community art.  If this is your first post, just scroll back through the archives to see all 8 weeks of art made by the people of KNU International English Church.  Special thanks to all the folks in Greenhouse Worship for incubating our creative worship experiences!

Isaiah 25:6-9 There he will remove the cloud of gloom, the shadow of death that hangs over the earth.  He will swallow up death forever!  The Sovereign Lord will wipe away all tears.  He will remove forever all insults and mockery against his land and people.
    The Lord has spoken!

 Exodus 15:8, 12  At the blast of your breath, the waters piled up!  The surging waters stood straight like a wall; in the heart of the sea the deep waters became hard.  You raised your right hand, and the earth swallowed our enemies.

Me and Abel - Genesis 4:1-16

Today we skip forward in our journey through Genesis.  After the creation of humans, there was the famous “Fall,” when humans first sinned.  Chapter 4 tells us, we kept falling, farther and farther. 

Old Testament Lesson: Genesis 4:1-16

¹ Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said, “With the LORD’s help, I have produced a man!” ² Later she gave birth to his brother and named him Abel.

   When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd, while Cain cultivated the ground. ³ When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the LORD. ⁴ Abel also brought a gift—the best of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The LORD accepted Abel and his gift, ⁵ but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.

 ⁶ “Why are you so angry?” the LORD asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? ⁷ You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”

 ⁸ One day Cain suggested to his brother, “Let’s go out into the fields.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother, Abel, and killed him.