IF JESUS CAME TO ALDERSGATE

Wouldn’t it be an interesting change of pace if the service at Aldersgate was led by whoever feels like it that week?  Of course, the problem might be that no one feels like it and we all go home early or someone like Chuck, Burt, or Brad ends up speaking out of a sense of duty, whether they really felt like it or not.   But wouldn’t it be cool if everyone were bursting with something that God had showed them that week and wanted to share?

So, this week I am looking through the Gospel of Luke, because let’s face it the first two chapters of Luke is where the Christmas story lives, only this time I read on into chapter 4.  The story of Jesus’ first sermon, where Jesus had just come back from 40 days in the Wilderness, returns to his hometown of Nazareth, enters the temple, is handed the scroll of Isaiah, and reads these words from Isaiah

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

And then Jesus rolls up the scroll and sits down. Every eye in the synagogue is on him and I am sure everyone is stunned and like, wait a minute, what just happened?  And then Jesus says to them,

“Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Not a bad first sermon.

So, then I wondered what would happen if Jesus came to Aldersgate on Sunday and preached?  Maybe, just maybe, our Lord would say something like,

The Spirit of the Lord has anointed him to bring good news to the poor:  1) healthy food instead of hamburger helper with no hamburger to the hungry; 2) All your student loans will be forgiven; 3) there will be clean water for the people of Flint Michigan, Browning Montana and Haiti; 4) that the Officers and Boards of all the

 Fortune 500 companies have elected to distribute all their own pay raises, bonuses and stock options to the poor; and, 5) we will be granted the understanding that our value has nothing to do with the balance in our bank accounts.

The Spirit of the Lord has sent him to release the captives:  1) to free the addicts from the needle and the bottle and the computer; 2) to understand our own self worth and cure depression; 3) to bring rest to the sleep-deprived caregivers; 4) to remove the bitterness from those who can’t let go of the past, and 5) to forgive the sinner.

And then I realize his message is going over 15 minutes and I wonder if Jesus realizes how we do things here.  And then I imagine him looking at me, reading my thoughts and giving me the most loving “seriously?” look ever and then everyone is laughing.  And then I see Gabriel and Daniel walking up to Jesus and offering him suckers they got from Ms. Jackie, and he gladly taking them before continuing.

I have come to bring recovery of sight to the blind:  1) to forever change the way we see people who are different than us;  2) To show us the ways that our sin tears at the fabric of everything; 3) To help us “see” glimpses of heaven in the here and now; and, 4)  To allow us to see ourselves as God see us, that there really is no “them” there is only an “us”. 

And then he sits down. And the whole church is staring at him, and no one moves or says anything and then he says, “People, stop looking at me – you have what you need. Today the scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Today. At this very moment. And I envision our minds and hearts and eyes are open, the doubts gone, the resentments vanished, and the good news of God fulfilled in our hearing.  And we were there.

So today my prayer for each of you is that you carry both the Christmas Story and the message of Jesus with you into the New Year.  Amen.

Brad