114: Easter 6B (May 10, 2015)

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For Sunday May 10, Easter 6B.

SHOW NOTES -  5/10/2015
Episode 114 Easter 6B
Welcome to the Pulpit Fiction Podcast, the lectionary podcast for preachers, seekers and Bible geeks. This is episode 114 for Sunday May 10, Easter 6B.

Introduction and Check-in  

Quickfire Scripture:  Acts 10:44-48 - Peter and the Holy Spirit

  • Peter preaching about the universality of Jesus, responding to Cornelius, a Roman Centurion,, who had seen a vision of “a man in radiant clothing,” who told him to find Peter.
  • Peter declares that “God doesn’t show partiality to one group or another” (Acts. 10:34).
  • As a result of this preaching, “the Holy Spirit fell on everyone who heard the word.” The manifestation of this Holy Spirit was in the speaking in tongues.
  • “The circumcised were astonished.” Read: “The old guard was mad.” The “Way We’ve Always Done it Before Committee” wasn’t happy about this development.
  • Peter now asks the same rhetorical question that the Ethiopian asked last week, “What’s stopping us from baptizing these people?”
    • They haven’t been circumcised
    • They haven’t been taught about the Law
    • They are Gentiles
    • None of this stops them, even though all of it could have.
  • Easy to miss, but important to remember, Peter sticks around. This incident is not a quick encounter. It took building a relationship beforehand, and continued the relationship afterwards.

Featured Musician -  Bryan Sirchio, “It’s All About Love” from his Album Something Beautiful for God. Find more about Bryan and his music at sirchio.com. Follow Bryan on Facebook or twitter @bryanjsirchio

Primary Scripture - John 15:9-17 - The New Commandment
Initial Thoughts

  • Picks up where last week left off.
  • Have we got the message yet? Love one another. Seriously, how many times are we going to say the same thing?

Bible Study

  • Friendship
    • What is the difference between friend and servant?
      • Friend = mutuality, intimacy
      • Servant = hierarchy
    • Can a boss be an employee’s friend?
    • How can Jesus be both Lord and friend?
    • “What a friend we have in Jesus” is a classic hymn, written in 1855 by Joseph Scriven.
  • Obedience
    • Typically, we don’t associate obedience as a trait of friendship.
    • Obedience is often seen as a result of domination. A dog obeys. A friend doesn’t.
    • Obedience often comes on heels of violence.
      • Jesus’ obedience is not about perpetuating violent, abusive, coercive relationships.
    • What does Jesus’ obedience look like?
      • not typical system of hierarchy.
      • Obedience means obeying commandments.
      • Commandment is “Love one another.”
      • To be obedient is to love.
      • To love implies a lack of hierarchy, subjugation, or coercion.
    • The way to judge between Christian obedience and Abusive obedience is this, “Is the motivation for this obedience love?” I obeying this perceived instruction, am I loving my neighbor? Am I loving myself? If so, it’s Christian obedience. If not, it’s abuse.
  • Friends are sought by Jesus, not the other way around.
    • “Students wishing to learn the Torah sought out a rabbi whose teachings they wanted to emulate. The choice was theirs. but Jesus reverses the order. The decision is his. He chooses his followers” (Charles Cousar, Texts for Preaching, Year B, p. 325).
    • There is no room for negotiating terms of friendship on our part. There is no place for choosing when and where we should obey. It is a command for all times.
    • There is no room for elitism for being selected. Friendship is a cause for special treatment. It is a demand for higher expectations.
    • There is no room for wearing out friendship. The friendship is Jesus’ choosing, so we are not the ones in control of what shape this friendship may take.

Sermon Thoughts and Questions:

  • Jesus wants to be our friend. It can feel like such a trivial, sentimental thing (see ‘Buddy Jesus’). But think about how many actual friends you have. How many people can you actually count on. Not just to hang out every once in awhile, but to do things like help you move, pick up your kids, show up for dinner on a Tuesday, cry with you when you get crappy news. These people are precious. This is a level of relationship that cannot be overestimated. And the astonishing thing is, Jesus is initiating this friendship with us. Not the other way around.
  • A way of thinking about the Cross beyond blood atonement. It is the sign for erfect love.
  • Do we get it yet? It feels like we’ve been saying the same thing for a few weeks, it’s because it’s REALLY IMPORTANT. It’s like John, or maybe just the lectionary, has been writing in CAPS LOCK for the last couple of weeks. This reminds me of Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan from the movie Rush Hour, “Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?” 
  • “So let me say it again, love is about obedience, obedience is about love, and God often surprises us about what this all looks like. Can we say that on Sunday? Actually, Working Preacher, saying it is the easy part; it's living it out that will take everything we've got. - David Lose

Psalm Nugget -  Psalm 98 - Richard Bruxvoort Colligan (psalmimmersion.com, @pomopsalmist)
Call to Worship (polite but loud)
One: Sing to God something brand new!
Many: For God has done wonderful things!
One: God has not forgotten to love us all!
Many: Even the ends of the earth have heard!
One: Make a joyful noise!
Many: Break forth in song!
One: With strings and horns,
Many: sing praise to the holy One!
One: With the roaring sea and everything living in it!
Many: With all the world and everything living in it!
One: The floods clap their hands.
Many: The hills sing for joy.
One: Thank God he is coming to set everything right:
Many: Justice for everyone, everything fair.
One: Sing to God something brand new!
All: For God has done wonderful things!
(Psalm 98, Worldmaking adaptation by Richard Bruxvoort Colligan) 

Call to Worship (unruly)
One: Hey! Sing to God something brand new!
Many (loudly): For God has done wonderful things! Hey!
One: God has not forgotten to love us all!
Many (loudly): Even the ends of the earth have heard!
One: Make a joyful noise!
Many (loudly): Hey! Hey! HEY!
One: With symphony and band,
Many (loudly): And all instruments turned up to 11
One: With the roaring sea and everything living in it!
Many (loudly): With all the world and everything living in it!
One: The floods clap their hands.
Many (loudly): The hills sing for joy.
One: Thank God he is coming to set everything right:
Many (loudly): Justice for everyone, everything fair.
One: Hey, sing to God something brand new!
All (loudly): For God has done wonderful things! HEY!!
(Psalm 98, Worldmaking adaptation by Richard Bruxvoort Colligan)

Second Reading: 1 John 5:1-6 - Love God? Follow Commandments
Initial Thoughts

  • Practice reading this one - easy to get tripped up
  • Skip verse 6

Bible Study

  • Integration of faith, love and commandments/obedience
  • Love of God and Jesus as the son of God are inextricably linked
    • Who is the God you love? The God revealed in Jesus.
    • Remember this is written to fellow Christians
  • Love of God leads us to love of Jesus which informs v.2 “obey his commandments”
    • What commandments?
      • Love God...love one another
      • Feeding 5000
      • reaching out to lepers
      • welcoming children
      • sparing prostitutes hypocritical judgement
      • self-giving, not self-preserving
  • “They’ll Know We Are Christians By Our Love” - foundational hymn of this text
    • Scholtes, the author of this hymn, volunteered as a white priest to lead a half white Irish and half African-American parish on the Southside of Chicago in 1968
  • Family of God - “Whoever believes Jesus is Christ” - radical statement
    • Christians who think and act differently: conservatives, liberals, evangelicals, rioters, policemen and peace marchers, politicians and preachers
  • Abuse of Love - dangers of “taking up the cross”, “redemptive suffering” etc.

Sermon Thoughts and Questions:

  • God’s commandments may not be difficult (v. 3), but that does not mean they are easy
  • Christ remains at the center of our faith- the hub which unites love, faith and action. Is Christ always the center of our worship? Our mission? Our programming? Has “Christ” become taboo? Are we overly concerned with inclusion that we are afraid to declare our particularity?
  • We be one family of God is a very difficult challenge? How do we hold one another in “love” instead of deciding who is and who isn’t a Christian?
  • We often think of love in great and mighty acts (self-sacrifice, Gift of the Magi, etc) or in the lives of great people (MLK Jr, Gandhi, etc). Perhaps we need to remember consistency of love lived out more often in small ways.

Tasty Wafer of the Week:

  • The Lion and Lamb Festival is seeking musicians and speakers. Already featuring friends of the show Heatherlyn and Sarah Renfro. Other participants can apply now. The Festival’s vision is to bring people together to inspire and be inspired by stories of peace, mercy, justice, and love. It is August 8, 2015 in the Quad Cities, Illinois.
  • Festival of Homiletics - Questions? Send them to us! - Show@pulpitfiction.us subject “FoH”

CLOSING
TY listeners
TY for all the great birthday wishes!
Email - Deb Washer - Finally had time to listen to the interview with Rachel Held Evans. And when you talked about Netflix I wanted to scream "watch Continuum!"  If you like sci fi I dare you to watch it and not binge on it. Just a thought for your down time.

Featured Musician - Bryan Sirchio, “It’s All About Love” from his Album Something Beautiful for God. Find more about Bryan and his music at sirchio.com. Follow Bryan on Facebook or twitter @bryanjsirchio  

Closing music - Koine “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” from their debut, self-titled album, Koine.

Thanks to our Psalms correspondent, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan (psalmimmersion.com, @pomopsalmist). Thank you to Scott Fletcher for our voice bumpers, Dick Dale and the Del Tones for our Theme music (“Misirlou”), Nicolai Heidlas (“Summertime”) and The Steel Wheels for our transition music(“Nola’s First Dance” from their album Lay Down, Lay Low) and Koine “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” from their debut, self-titled album, Koine..

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