Sermon in Humboldt this last Sunday

This past Sunday, October 26th, I went down to Humboldt Nebraska to visit the Humboldt Christian Church, and to do Pulpit Supply for my good friend Howard Blecha.  Howard was away with the youth at Camp again.  He had lined up a different Pastor who had to cancel on him, so he called me with a bit of short notice to come down and preach.  It was an absolutely beautiful day for a drive down and Gail and I enjoyed the road trip a great deal.  After the service was over we stopped in Nebraska City for lunch and to go to a couple of the orchards for a bit of an apple fix.

We did record the sermon successfully, however the audio on it leaves far too much to be desired to put it up on youtube.  The Humboldt Church is blessed in having a bit of a 'baby boom' going on, and there were several very little people in the service on Sunday.  Unfortunately, a number of them were less than happy, and pretty much screamed and cried throughout the service.  On the video most of the time, all you can hear clearly are babies crying.  Gail told me she was having a hard time hearing over them, and I told her that for a while up front I was having trouble hearing myself over them.  Oh well, that is just part of the joy of preaching, especially in a small church. Having little children in the Church is an incredible blessing and I was happy to see them there.

Since the video isn't worth listening too, I have once again attached the manuscript for the sermon.  This sermon was in flux pretty much all the way to Humboldt, as I was a bit short on time to reflect adequately on the topic.  For me it takes about a week to really be comfortable with my sermons.  Therefore, I generally start by reading the scripture and the book that it's in on the Sunday afternoon prior to my sermon.  

But none-the-less, I thought it was a good sermon though Gail thought it was a bit too long.  That is one of the problems of having a short time frame it doesn't allow you sufficient time to edit and trim things up.

I hope you enjoy reading through the sermon.

In God's Absolute Love & Abundant Grace,
Roy

Sermon – Humboldt Church, October 26^th 2014

Good morning, it's great to be here with all of you once again. As you may or may not remember my name is Roy Karlen and I was a classmate of Howard's in the ELM or Educating Lay Ministry Program, that we both completed last year at just about this time. My wife Gail has come along with me today, and we are as always very happy to be here in Humboldt to join you all in worship. It is a beautiful morning for a road trip and there's no better time to come out into the country than the fall with all the beauty that nature affords us with the foliage changing colors.

Now I will warn you that Howard contacted me later in the week about filling in here today, so I have not gone through my normal routine as far as preparing this sermon. Normally, I like to read the scripture on Sunday afternoon and spend Sunday and part of Monday just thinking about a direction for the sermon and reading through the book where the scripture is located. Then on Tuesday, Wednesday and a little bit on Thursday I am researching and reading. On Thursday night I generally start writing down what I've come up with in my head and I try to have it all written out by Friday night. That gives me time to run through the sermon out loud a couple of times on Friday evening. Next on Saturday, during the day I will read through the sermon several times, and make any final adjustments. And last of all on Saturday evening I will run through the sermon out loud three or so times.

However, with the short notice for this sermon, I was coming up with new thoughts even on the way here this morning and scribbling notes into my manuscript.  So this sermon is evolving as we speak... so this could get interesting.

Interestingly enough, today is Reformation Sunday. This is the Sunday when we recognize the anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 thesis to the door of the Church in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517. On the eve of 'All Saints Day' he committed the act that would spark the Reformation and which would ultimate lead to the development of the Protestant branch of Christianity, in all it's so very many forms and flavors. One of which of course, evolved into the Disciples of Christ.  In just three short years, we'll be celebrating the 500th anniversary of this historic event and as fate would have it, those that use the Lectionary will be preaching over this same bit of scripture on that Sunday as well.

Like Jesus, Martin Luther never intended to start a new religion.  He was out to transform Catholicism, just as Jesus was trying to transform Judaism.  In the end though both of them ended up creating something brand new.  

Martin Luther was certainly not a perfect man and the Reformation wasn't without it's shortcomings, but today we recognize the great courage that it took to confront the Catholic Church in those days. A time when he could have very easily been burned at the stake for his offenses.  And not just by the authorities of the Catholic Church but by leaders and followers of rival Protestant movements.  It was a time of turmoil to be certain.

Before we go any further though, let's go before the Lord to prepare our hearts and minds.

Lord God, Heavenly Father, we come before you today and we ask that you calm our hearts, our minds and our restless spirits. We ask that you ease and ready our souls to hear, and to discern, and to implement your Almighty word and wishes for this world. Let us listen to your word and accept your commission to be your hands and feet to this wanting world. In Christ's Holy Name, AMEN

Today we're looking at a bit of Scripture in the Gospel of Matthew. Now as we're digesting this piece of scripture we would be well served to remember that the Gospel of Matthew is the most “Jewish” of the Gospels. Here we see Jesus portrayed as being genuinely Jewish. The Gospel of Matthew was written to a group of Jewish Christians, whom likely continued to think of themselves as being fully Jewish. Most likely they believed and thought of themselves as the only 'true jews' the 'fulfillment' of Judaism.  We need to remember that in Matthew we are told this:

Matthew 5:17 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

The Law and the Prophets

17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.

This is as I said, a throughly Jewish Gospel and we need to bear that in mind while we work to decipher the message that the author of Matthew is conveying to us.

With that let us read the scripture that the Lectionary has guided us to for this Sunday.

Matthew 22: 34 – 46 NRSV

34When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”37He said to him, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38This is the greatest and first commandment. 39And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

41Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: 42“What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” 43He said to them, “How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying, 44‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet”’? 45If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?” 46No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

Well, love God, love your neighbor. That seems simple enough, this just might be the shortest sermon ever...... No, probably not, I've been here enough times now that you all likely know better than that.

Jesus is known to us as a radical, and believe it or not there is some pretty radical thinking in this passage that we just read. But before we get into that we need to lay a bit of groundwork first. Just a few verses back Jesus has entered Jerusalem, he is building to the final confrontation with the Sanhedrin and the Romans. Here we have the final of a series of confrontations with Jesus by other religious leaders and teachers. Now today when we read these interactions, they all look to be very aggressive, and some almost certainly were. BUT... what we need to remember is that this is the style of dialogue, known as 'ask-assertive conversation', which these groups used in 'testing' each other. This was especially true between the various groups that made up the Pharisees. Here we have a 'lawyer' obviously, a very well versed Pharisee and he is testing Jesus.

We find that when Mark discussed this same incident in his Gospel he portrayed it slightly differently than Matthew did. This same exchange is found in Mark 12:28-34

Mark 12:28-34 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

The First Commandment

28 One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?”29 Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30 you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’; 33 and ‘to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself,’—this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that no one dared to ask him any question.

Here the Scribe questions Jesus because he has seen that Jesus is answering well. He's basically set Jesus up to deliver a knockout blow, and not set Jesus up to trip him up. The Scribe agrees with Jesus and tells him he has answered well.  In both versions, the story in Matthew and then again in Mark, no one dared to ask him anymore questions.  But in Matthew it's because he stumped them and in Mark it's because he has impressed them so much with his knowledge.

We also find this same exchange in Luke, though the author of Luke has again altered the conversation somewhat.

Luke 10:25-28New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

25 Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus.[a] “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” 27 He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.

There is certainly nothing scandalous about telling people to love God with all their heart, with all your soul and with all your might. This is a part of the Shema which is a Jewish prayer traditionally prayed twice a day, it is also found in Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy 6:5 New International Version (NIV)

5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Nor does there seem to be much to debate about loving your neighbor, which is found in Leviticus.

Leviticus 19:18New International Version (NIV)

18 “‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

So, as I said, nothing to talk about over all this, 'loving your neighbor' stuff, seems pretty cut and dry.

Well... that's not exactly true. Whereas to us today saying to love your neighbor as yourself may seem clear enough, to a Jew living in the first century... it was not so clear, not so clear at all.

To understand this we need to know that in the first century there were two prominent leaders in the Pharisee movement. One was named Shammai, and the other Hillel. Shammai was very, very conservative and Hillel was known as being extremely liberal in his interpretations of the Torah.

Now as to who is 'our neighbor' Shammai maintained that our neighbor was a fellow Hebrew.  Did you catch that part in Leviticus that I just read, that 'among your people' part?  Now on the other hand Hillel maintained that our neighbors included everyone, Hebrew and gentile with the exception of the much maligned Samaritans.  Not even Hillel could see his way clear in saying that a Samaritan was to be considered your neighbor.

So what did Jesus mean by 'neighbor'? Well, we don't really have to guess here. In the version of the 'Great Commandment' in Luke it is directly followed by the story of the Good Samaritan. Let's go back and re-read that scripture again, but this time I'll carry on through the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Luke 10:25-37 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

25 Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus.[a] “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” 27 He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”

29 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii,[a] gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

The Samaritan models what it means to truly love your neighbor, certainly Jesus intends that to the Hebrews even the much hated Samaritans are their neighbors and are to be loved. It is really difficult to over emphasis this point, Jesus is really, really radical in his teachings here.   Jesus has outdone even Hillel, he is farther to the left than even the famous liberal Rabbi of his time.

In some sense, this isn't actually all that amazing, when we compare Jesus' Theology with that of Shammai and Hillel, we find Jesus agreeing with Hillel on every point save for two. The one here, where Jesus is to the left, or even more radical and liberal in his love than Hillel, and on the issue of divorce. Interestingly, when it comes to divorce, Jesus, is farther to the right or more conservative than Shammai if we consider the evidence in both Mark and Luke, where Jesus absolutely forbids divorce. It is only in Matthew the more Jewish of the three synoptics where we see Jesus taking the exact same position as Shammai on divorce.

Part of what made Jesus such a radical was that he didn't care about what was liberal or what was conservative, he cared about what was correct. Jesus cared about all people, not just the Hebrews, or the Gentiles, or just the Samaritans. To Jesus and therefore to us, to love our neighbor means to love everyone. To love the thoroughly unlovable, to even love those that hate us, to love those that would wish to destroy us.

Now, I for one do not believe this commandment means that we are not to defend ourselves if we are attacked, but it does mean that we extend grace and love to those that have wronged us. We are called to extend love and charity to an unloving and uncharitable world. This is a large part of the radical that is Christ Jesus.

Let's keep going though, Jesus goes on to tell us that on these two commandments. Loving God and our neighbor, hangs all the rest of the Law and the Prophets. What does he mean by this? Does he mean that the rest of the Law is irrelevant, and that all we really need to do is these two commandments?

Well here again, Jesus seems to be modeling his statement after a famous remark of that old Rabbi Hillel. There is a story about a Gentile who came to Shammai and asked him to tell him all of the Torah while balanced on one leg, insulted Shammai reportedly struck the man with a measuring rod. No doubt a reference to Shammai's measuring of the law and it's many details. The Gentile then went to Hillel and made the same request. Tell me the whole of the Torah while balanced on one leg. To which Hillel responded “That which is hateful to you, do not unto another: This is the whole Torah. The rest is commentary — [and now] go study.”

Now what Hillel is saying here is not that the rest of the Torah is unimportant or frivolous, but rather that the rest of the Torah is an aid to explaining, understanding and implementing this statement. This is a commentary, (holding up commentary) it helps us to understand just two of the books in the New Testament. The books of Matthew and of Mark. Now in this collection of commentaries there are volumes of varying lengths for each and every one of the 66 books in the Bible. They are written by various Theologians to help others to discern just what is being relayed in the scripture.

Now, in my opinion Jesus is saying something very similar in nature but at the same time, distinctly different. What he's saying is that the rest of the Law and the Prophets “hang” on these two commandments. We cannot understand the rest of the Law or the teaching of the Prophets unless we look at them through the “lenses” of Loving God with all that we are and loving our neighbor as we love ourselves. If we do not “hang” our understanding of the rest of the Scripture on this understanding, this “LOVE”, we will certainly misinterpret something along the way. The thing we need most of all for our commentary is our grasp of this abundant “love”. I do believe though that Jesus even though he did not state it fully intended for us to do as Hillel commanded the gentile, and that is for us to “go and study”. Study scripture through the lenses of love.

It's interesting that once again Jesus has surpassed the love and grace from even the most gracious of the Rabbis of his time. He has taken it from "don't do unto others what you wouldn't have done unto you", to love everyone, even the Samaritans. That is really radical thinking for a first century Jewish Rabbi.

In many ways this sermon is the story of the three Rabbis, Shammai, Hillel, and Jesus. During his lifetime Hillel became the head of the Sanhedrin and Shammai was for all practical purposes the number two man in the Sanhedrin. When Hillel died in the year 10 ad or as it's also know 10 ce or common era, the House of Shammai took over control of the Sanhedrin and Jerusalem. The disciples of Hillel maintained control in the synagogues outside the city and most notably in a small back water place known as Galilee.

Now there is just no way for us to know if Jesus ever met Hillel, but it would seem to be very obvious that Jesus was very aware of Hillel's teachings and in my opinion Jesus was certainly a student of a Disciple of Hillel's. One of Hillel's followers that lived and taught in Galilee. But of course Jesus was nobody's yes man. He took positions farther than Hillel had done, and he also pulled back and took positions that were far more restrained than Hillel.

Hillel's Disciples would go on for many more centuries and ultimately would be the guiding force behind modern Judaism. Most of the Talmud is the teaching of Hillel or of his students. And of course his teachings and disciples very much influenced Christianity. And do you remember that voice of reason that we see in the Sanhedrin in the book of Acts, that Pharisee by the name of Gamaliel who spoke up and prevented the leaders from persecuting farther the Apostles after Christ's ascension. Did you know that Gamaliel was the grandson of Hillel.

In many ways, Hillel was there even before John the Baptist, moving the ball down the field in preparation for the coming of Christ. Hillel in no small way set the stage for Jesus to teach us that all the Law and all the Prophets hang on just two things.

“’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38This is the greatest and first commandment. 39And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

When we read scripture let us read it through these eyes, through these lens that Christ himself has prescribed for us.

Let's Pray!

Dear Heavenly Father, we lift up to you, great thanks for your message to us of love and grace.  We thank you O Lord, for men such as Martin Luther and Rabbi Hillel, who have helped reveal your teachings to us.  We most ardently thank you O God, for the gift of Jesus who brought to this world your full nature.  We pray that you will see fit to guide us, and to direct us as to accomplish your will, and your desire of love and grace in this broken world.

We pray this in faith in Jesus who is the Christ.

Amen!

Humboldt Christian Church - Preaching this Sunday

I will be preaching down in Humboldt this Sunday at the Humboldt Christian Church.

Looking forward to seeing all the wonderful people in Humboldt and hopefully it will be a beautiful day for a road trip.

God Bless!
Roy

Leading Prayers / Sunday School / New Books

Today I was back in worship at Benson Baptist.  Besides teaching  Sunday School this week I also helped a bit with the worship service by doing the 'Prayer for the People' and the 'Offertory Prayer' for both the first and second services.

It was great to be back working with the Sunday School class, this week was my turn to be the lead teacher for the class.  Our group is made up of 2nd to 4th graders and today we had a smaller group with only six of the children in attendance.

One of the things I shared with them today was my favorite mantra of 'Be A Blessing to Someone Today'.  I gave them each a sheet of paper with the days of the week from Monday to Sunday listed, and I asked them to try and come up with something for each day that they could do to help or bless someone else.  I tried to impress upon them that we can bless each other in small ways.  Just giving someone a smile when they are having a bad day can be the blessing that turns around their day.  And a day that turns from bad to good might even be the event that turns around a life.  We just never know how profound a small event can be in one's life, it's just our calling to do them and let God take it from there.

After we dismissed and we were waiting for the parents, one of the girls came up to me and said "I know how I can be a blessing to someone today".  I said "Okay, how are you going to be a blessing".  With that she came up to me and gave me a hug.  Then she looked at me with a huge smile and said "There I was a blessing to you."  I said "You certainly are, Thank You" and I smiled back at her.

All too often in life we forget that the greatest blessings of all are the smallest ones.  There is nothing more precious in God's creation than a genuine hug and a joy filled smile.  Ironically, these are gifts and blessings that cost us nothing but ones we so infrequently give to others.

Just as I challenged my little students, I challenge each of you that are here reading this blog, to try and be a blessing to someone else each and everyday this week.  Remember, these blessings can be small or large, or any size at all... just give them away and let God do the rest.

After the second service was over Gail picked me up and we went over to Half Priced Books.  They recently remodeled their store and I hadn't been in their store since then.  The remodel certainly wasn't too impressive, but they did add on some space in the back of the store which is now a clearance area.  Gail found a couple of books that she wanted, and of course I found several books that I wanted.  I confess that I have a serious addiction to books and it is very difficult (impossible) for me to walk out of a bookstore empty handed.

The books that I purchased today are; 'Comeback Churches' by Ed Stetzer & Mike Dodson, 'Transforming Church in Rural America' by Shannon O'Dell, 'Q The Lost Gospel, The Book of Q & Christian Origins' by Burton Mack and 'Now, Discover Your Strengths' by Marcus Buckingham & Donald Clifton.

Other than the book on 'Q', these books are all a bit outside of my normal reading material.  I'm not sure which one I'll tackle first but it will be either the book by Stetzer & Dodson or the book by O'Dell.  Both of these are books that are of practical application and again are not my normal fare of theology or church history.  I am however looking forward to reading them both.

I'll close this blog post with this prayer from the 58th Chapter of 1st Clement:

May God, who sees all things, and who is the Ruler of all spirits and the Lord of all flesh -- who chose our Lord Jesus Christ and us through Him to be a peculiar people -- grant to every soul that calls upon His glorious and holy Name, faith, fear, peace, patience, long-suffering, self-control, purity, and sobriety, to the well-pleasing of His Name, through our High Priest and Protector, Jesus Christ, by whom be to Him glory, and majesty, and power, and honour, both now and for evermore. Amen.

May God Bless you each and everyone.

In His Absolute & Abundant Grace,
Roy

Sermon At Murray Christian Church / Remembrance / A Wedding & New Beginnings

Yesterday, Gail and Maddie and I had the pleasure of spending the morning with the good people of the Murray Christian Church..  I led the service and delivered the message to them and after the service we stayed, and enjoyed a time of fellowship with them during their monthly Fellowship Potluck.  There were far too many attractive looking desserts laid out to select from, which made the always difficult 'dessert discernment' all the more challenging.  But, I caved in and tried two of the desserts presented and both were very good.

Gail and Maddie once again had trouble with the camcorder, it seems there is an issue with the memory card even though Maddie had deleted everything off of it the card still was not working properly.  So once again rather that posting up fragments of the sermon I will just post the manuscript.

The sermon seemed to be very well received, and a great many folks complimented me about it so I was pleased.  I am going to have to go over to Office Depot and pick up a new memory card before my next preaching engagement.

Before I gave my sermon one of the members at Murray, a wonderful gentleman named Millard gave me a pen that he had made.  He makes these pens for the youth of the Church and was so kind as to give one to me as a present for coming to worship with them.  I was very surprised and extremely pleased.  I immediately put it to good use in recording the various names for the prayer requests.  Thanks again Millard, you are a true gem.

This coming Sunday I will be back to Benson Baptist and leading the Sunday School Class for the 2nd to 4th grade students.  I'm looking forward to seeing them all again, they are just a delight to work with and it's always refreshing to one's spirit.

Saturday was both a very somber and a very joyful day.  It marked the 3rd anniversary of the death by suicide of the child of one of my oldest friends.  I did not call him on Saturday or Sunday but I will today, I'm sure the family was there for him on the actual anniversary date.  Today I want to make sure he's holding up afterwards.  These are wounds that of course never heal and we always need to be in prayer for those that we know have suffered such a terrible blow in their lives.

On a joyful note however, on Saturday morning I attended the wedding of my friend and Mentor the Reverend Robert Molby.  Bob married a woman that he has known for many, many years.  Her name is Marcie and she was I believe a member in the first congregation that Bob led so many years ago.  In fact Bob conducted the service for Marcie and her first husband's wedding.  Marcie has to my understanding, lost two husbands to cancer through the years.

It's a wonderful thing to see two people in their 80's being so positive about life that they are still searching for companionship and new beginnings.  I prayerfully wish Bob and Marcie all the very best, and pray God will grace them with a goodly number of years of life together.  God Bless them both.

Marcie Wetzel and Rev. Bob Molby
married 10/11/14 at Sunset Hills Baptist Church in Omaha, NE
Rev. Ron French Presiding
WmRoy Karlen photo

Well, I need to get back to work now so with that, I'll just attach a copy of the sermon from yesterday.

May you all have a richly blessed and joyful week, God's love and abundance to you all.

In Christ,

Roy

Manuscript for Sermon at Murray Christian Church - October 12th, 2014:

Good Morning, it's great to be here again on this fall morning. My name is Roy Karlen and my wife Gail and my daughter Maddie and I are all very happy to be here to worship with you good people, and even more importantly we're excited to be here with you for your monthly pot-luck. You'll never go wrong visiting a Church when they are having a potluck dinner.

Before you go any further though, let's go before the Lord in Prayer.

Be pleased, Heavenly Father, to come in your Holy Spirit to this gathering of your people and grant that as we look up to thee in penitence and praise, you will look down on us in pardon and grace. Prepare our hearts and minds to grow closer to you dear Lord. Amen

Today, we're going to take a look at a bit of scripture that we all know by heart. In fact we've all already recited it here today. Or at least we've recited a revision of this particular piece of scripture. It is of course known as “The Lord's Prayer”. The prayer that Jesus himself taught to the disciples.

We find “The Lord's Prayer” in two of the three synoptic Gospels. The verses in Matthew that we read just a few minutes ago and also a more abbreviated form in Luke's Gospel. What most people do not realize however, is that the prayer is found in a third location. It is found in the 8^th Chapter of a non-canonical document known as the 'Didache' which is also known as 'The Teaching of the Twelve'. When we say a book or writing is or isn't canonical, what we mean is that it is or isn't in the Bible. Of course what is considered canonical depends on whether you are looking at a Catholic, a Protestant, or one of the various forms of Orthodox Christianities Bibles, there are differences in the numbers of books in the various 'official' canons. 'The Teaching of the Twelve' or the 'Didache' is a Christian document that likely dates to the middle of the First Century, though there is, as there is with nearly all of the Canonical and Non-canonical documents, disagreement among scholars as to it's exact age and origin. Some date at least portions of the document to being as early as any of the books found in the Canon. Early Church tradition held that the 'Didache' was written by the Twelve Apostles themselves, though this is considered highly unlikely today. There are some who believe that the Didache arose from the same community as the author of the Gospel of Matthew, which very well may explain the similarity of the Lord's Prayer found within the two.

So let's take a closer look at this prayer that we all have memorized. First we'll take a look at 'The Lord's Prayer' as found in Luke:

Luke 11:1-4 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

The Lord’s Prayer

1 He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2 He said to them, “When you pray, say:

Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.3 Give us each day our daily bread.4 And forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us to the time of trial.”

A much more abbreviated form of the Prayer for certain.

Now let's look at this Prayer as found in the Didache.

Didache 8:2
Neither pray ye as the hypocrites, but as the Lord commanded in His Gospel, thus pray ye:
Our Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name;
Thy kingdom come;
Thy will be done,
as in heaven, so also on earth;
give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our debt,
as we forgive our debtors;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one;
for Thine is the power and the glory for ever and ever.

8:3
Three times in the day pray ye so.

This certainly, sounds much more like the Prayer we're used to reciting. It's actually very nearly the same, did you catch that last verse though? “Three times in the day, pray ye so”. For many years the base of my prayer life was to recite the Lord's Prayer throughout the day. To be honest, I am not at all certain that this isn't what we are supposed to do. Certainly, it serves as a great reminder and it is significant that the Didache, which is basically a how to manual, tells us to repeat this prayer three times daily.

Let's look at the verses in Matthew again.

Matthew 6:7-15 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

7 “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

9 “Pray then in this way:

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.10 Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.11 Give us this day our daily bread.12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.13 And do not bring us to the time of trial,
but rescue us from the evil one.

14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you;

15 but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

And finally, let's look at the Lord's Prayer as nearly all of us recite it today. We're going to break this down bit by bit as we go along.

Our Father who art in Heaven,

First off we address God here. We are calling out to God in his name. 'Our Father in Heaven', no earthly parent here but our Father God. Now the Lord's Prayer isn't the most 'gender inclusive' Prayer that we have. So please forgive me if you are sensitive to the issue of inclusive language. The fact remains that Jesus himself referred to God as God the Father. In fact, generally Jesus referred to God as 'Abba'. Which basically translates as Daddy. For Jesus there is both a sense of reverence and familiarity in addressing his God. God the Father who art in Heaven, and Abba, Daddy. I think it serves us well to retain these competing natures of our God.

Hallowed be thy name;

God's name is sacred. He is Holy, he is set apart from all other God's, he is the one and only true God. His name is so sacred that the ancient Jews and many orthodox Jews today will not say or even spell out his name. I have a friend on-line who writes God's name as G-d. This isn't uncommon to be honest. God's name is Holy and we say it with a sense of reverence, even when we address him as Abba.

Thy kingdom come;

Note that it doesn't say we're going to your Kingdom, rather God's Kingdom is coming here.

Thy will be done

Not my will or any other humans will, but God's will. Here we are pledging to be God's hands and feet. We are to aid him in establishing his will.

On earth as it is in heaven.

And that will is not only in Heaven, but here on this earth. We've already addressed that his Kingdom is coming and that it's his will that we are to be concerned with.

Give us this day our daily bread;

It seems that we've made a change here rather suddenly. We've gone from caring about God's work and will to petitioning for our own needs. The key word here is the word that is translated as 'daily'. It is the Greek work 'epiousios', and we'll come back to this word in just a minute. Let's finish the prayer first.

And forgive us our debts, (or trespasses / sins)

As we forgive our debtors; (or those that trespass or sin against us)

Here we have this desire for grace and forgiveness. Just as we talked about the last time I was with you all, God's desire for reconciliation. A desire for reconciliation not only between us and God but between all of us here.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

Matthew urges that this grace between us is so crucial that God's grace towards us even hinges upon it.

14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you;

15 but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

God please keep us away from temptation. For we know that we are weak. Lead us away from temptation. Do not lead us toward the time of trial or temptation, and rescue us from evil or the evil one. All too often, that evil one is our own ego and pride.

For thine is the kingdom

And the power

And the glory,

Forever.

Amen

This last part is known as the 'Doxology' and did you happen to notice that only one of the pieces we looked at contains the Doxology. I am not aware of any manuscripts of Luke that contain the Doxology and the earliest and best manuscripts of Matthew do not contain it either, though it is in many later manuscripts. One has to wonder if the Doxology for the Lord's Prayer didn't come to us from the Didache itself. It seems fairly obvious that it was not part of the original text of Matthew.

Let's back-up just a bit and go back to that line:

Give us this day our daily bread;

As I pointed out it seems that we've made a change here, we've gone from caring about God's work and will to petitioning for our own personal needs. And as I said here the key word is the word translated as 'daily' the Greek word 'epiousios'.

Epiousios is a very, very interesting word. The only real problem is that we don't actually know what the word means. You see this word exists in exactly three places, it is only found in these three readings of the “Lord's Prayer”. And since for many, many years the Didache was lost, for much of Christian History we have only had two sources for this unknown word, the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Now since we find this prayer in only Matthew and Luke, and not in Mark's Gospel, it is highly likely that it originated in that undiscovered but hypothesized Document known as 'Q' or 'The Source'.

At one time a fragment of papyrus was discovered that reportedly contained the word Epiousios upon it. This fragment appeared to be a 'shopping list', with words in Greek such as beans, or rice, or cat litter or such, and after each word there was the word Epiousios. Based on this the scholar that translated the document hypothesized that Epiousios meant something along the lines of 'enough for tomorrow'. Which made sense in a culture that didn't have storage or refrigeration and where one typically goes to the market each day. There was only one problem... after the papyrus was examined by this scholar, and this scholar only... it was misplaced within the collection of the museum that held it. For a very long time it remained lost again, until it was found not long ago and additional Greek Scholars were able to finally look at it.

Well unfortunately for us the word that followed each item such as beans, rice or cat litter wasn't Epiousios at all. Rather it was a word that translates to 'oil'. So what we have here is of no use to us as an aid in discernment of the meaning behind the Lord's Prayer but one that is interesting none the less. For you see I have a theory about this papyrus. I believe that a wife back in that time sent her husband to the market to get oil. As all of us husbands have done at one time or another, this poor soul came home with all kinds of things but no oil. Well the next time he's sent to the market, his loving wife wrote the list as... beans – OIL, rice – OIL, cat litter – OIL... and so on. It's interesting that in all these many centuries some dynamics of marital life have remained the same. But that's just my theory of course.

But, back to just what does Epiousios mean and how did it come to be translated as daily. Well in the fourth century St. Jerome was commissioned by the Pope to translate the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into Latin. This was the first translation of the Bible in it's entirety into Latin. When Jerome came to Epiousios he was uncertain just what to do so in Luke he translated it one way as 'Daily' and in Matthew he translated it differently. In our modern Bibles only the translation from Luke the word 'Daily' remains and the meaning assigned by Jerome in Matthew has been largely forgotten.

If we break down the word Epiousios we find that 'epi' means 'above', 'beyond' or 'super', 'ousios' means substance, essence or necessity. We come up with the word that Jerome used when translating the Gospel of Matthew, 'Supersubstantial'. Above substantial, super essential, beyond necessity... these all give us a considerable different meaning than 'daily'.

Now we no longer have 'daily' bread but 'supersubstantial' bread, 'super essential' bread, bread that is 'beyond that what is necessary for mere survival'. When we consider that Christ used bread as a metaphor, we have, well the Eucharist, we have Communion, we have the bread of life, we have Christ himself...

We no longer have feed us for we are hungry, but feed us for we hunger. We hunger for that relationship with God that comes through the celebration of the Lord's Supper, through the ceremonial celebration of communion. This point is particularly poignant to you all as members of the Disciples of Christ Church. The DOC places such great emphasis on the celebration of communion that it is celebrated not once a month as most Christian denominations do but weekly, as you all well know.

It is important that we remember that when Christ taught this prayer to his Disciples, he almost certainly did not teach it to them in Greek. Rather he almost certainly taught it to them in Aramaic. We are left wondering what word or words did he use here that forced the writer of 'Q' to have to create a new word in Greek in order to try and grasp the depth of the meaning. It would seem unlikely that it was a word as mundane as daily. A word which can be rendered by at least 20 different ancient Greek words none of which is epiousios.

Let's look at the Lord's Prayer again with this idea of the bread being 'Christ' foremost in our minds.

Our Father who art in Heaven,

Hallowed be thy name;

Thy kingdom come;

Thy will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day a relationship with Christ;

And forgive us our debts,

As we forgive our debtors;

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom

And the power

And the glory,

Forever.

Amen

Suddenly, that prayer takes on a whole new meaning. A new deep theological meaning that honestly my modest preaching and teaching skills fail to adequately convey. But be that as it may, perhaps now you'll think about the Lord's Prayer just a bit differently whenever you pray it. Which by the way is supposed to be three times a day.

And here's just a little challenge from the pulpit, let's all try and pray this prayer at least three times a day for the next week. Thinking about this alternate and different meaning as we do so, let's see if it has any impact on our lives and our relationship with Christ.

Let's end this sermon on prayer with a prayer.

God above, Father, Abba

Holy, Sacred and Revered Lord.

We pledge our hands, our feet, our hearts and our spirits

to you Oh Lord, to fashion this world as you

would desire.

Let us ever be your emissaries of Love,

Charity, Grace and Forgiveness in this world.

Let us follow the model that you have given us, of Jesus who is the Christ, as we pursue your perfect example of grace and love to this broken world.

Allow us Oh Lord to come into communion and relationship with you. Give us the strength of body, mind and spirit that we require to serve you.

We pray for your protection from those that would oppose and harm us, and from our own sinful and selfish egos.

Oh Lord guide us steadfastly down your path of Forgiveness, Grace, Charity and Love onto this world.

For yours alone Oh Lord, is the Kingdom, and the power and the glory, until the very end of all time.

Amen