The author of our most recent men's book study book was a Jewish person. One of the many topics that came up for discussion was Sabbath, and Sabbath keeping, because this person spoke a lot about what Sabbath keeping meant for her. To be honest I was a bit surprised, I don't think confusion is the right word, at how much discussion and difference of opinion many had about Sabbath keeping. It got me to thinking about why when I'm teaching kids, I don't like to use memorization. And, if you're of a certain age you know that half of what you did in a confirmation class was memorize things. Well, I memorized 'The Lord's Prayer' or I memorized the Ten Commandments or I memorized John 3:16. The reason I kind of hesitate to say that is because once we memorize something we say to ourselves, 'I know that.' I memorized the Ten Commandments I can say the Ten Commandments so I know them. Well, 'No I don't.' It means I know the words it doesn't mean I know what they mean and it doesn't mean that I know how to apply them to my life. So, it got me to thinking about people's familiarity or unfamiliarity with the Commandments in general. With that in mind, for Lent this year I decided to do a short series on the Ten Commandments. But first, a definition...

The Sunday before Ash Wednesday is always identified in the church calendar as Transfiguration Sunday. On the transfiguration Jesus went on a high mountain apart with just a few of his disciples and he encountered there Elijah and Moses. One of the challenges for we modern people of faith is we like to understand everything that's going on, we always seek and look for deeper answers and that's not a bad thing. But, the fact of the matter is that there are things we will never fully understand in these lives. Those two realities collide in the Transfiguration. This amazing event which we fully don't understand. Our scripture for today is Mark 9, beginning with the second verse.

I have to apologize. I made a rookie mistake. What happened was that the scripture for today was chapter 40 in the book of Isaiah. And, it has so much really powerfully and wonderful stuff in it, instead of picking one small bit and focusing on that I kept reading all of these other great things going on and...the week got away on me. I had a real hard time narrowing this amazing passage down to one or two simple points. So, to try to make up for that, and to try to make sense out of what I'm doing today, I first want to tell you a little bit about the Book of Isaiah. The book of Isaiah is so much easier to understand if we can remember one simple point: The Book of Isaiah was written over the course of 200-300 years by more than one person. In the Book of Isaiah itself in the beginning it says it is written by Isaiah ban...

When I was in seminary you had to take five (5) tests. You had to pass these five tests, they were national tests kind of like an attorney has to take their board exams, we had to take these tests. The first of these tests was called, the 'Bible Content' exam. In the 'Bible Content' exam you simply had to be able to answer every question about details in the Bible you could imagine. One of the questions the year I took the test that was most often failed by people who were preparing to into the ministry was the question, "In the New Testament what sign did Jesus give to verify that he was the Messiah?"

People guessed all kinds of things and they guessed wrong. The answer was, in the New Testament, in all of the gospels, and all of the teachings of Jesus the one sign God gave was the sign of Jonah.

Reading Matthew 12:38-42...

The story of Jonah does not only appear in the Old Testament it is also paraphrased in the Koran, and it has an unduly large importance in the New Testament, as I say, the only sign that Jesus points to saying, 'I am from God.'
Some people can't get past Jonah because...I mean we've all heard a lot of fish stories in our lives, but that's a pretty big one. And, they have to quit listening right there. Other people...

Why would you be willing to listen someone you don't know at all? There are two reasons, 1) I love Jesus Christ with my whole heart, 2) I believe the Bible is true from cover to cover. SO I speak this morning from my heart to your heart and from my life to your life.

When I was a pastor in Pennsylvania there was a group of guys that would get together at the 'Y' every afternoon during lunch hour to play basketball, volleyball, or the one I like best, handball. ANd, we noticed that every January there would be a whole new group of guys that would join us. We could tell they were new because their sneakers would squeak on the floor and especially those beautiful white t-shirts. Ours were gray and stretched and smelly. And, we noticed another thing that after about three weeks ther were fewer of them. A couple weeks later a few less, and then after a month or so there wasn't really anybody left at all. And, I was thinking about those new guys...and read an article 'Overcoming Exercise Barriers.' I thought that would be good for the beginning of the year here. But because I'm a pastor, it's been my lifetime calling, I always think in terms of what the Lord has called me to do. 'Overcoming Exercise Barriers' I was thinking of 'Overcoming Sharing Jesus Barriers'...

Okay, first thing we have to do is take a little poll, how many of you are Johnny Cash fans? Okay, the rest of you, I don't know about...I've always been a Johnny Cash fan. There's an old Johnny Cash song, "Don't Take Your Guns to Town." It's about a kid named Billy Joe. He means no harm to anyone, but he is also quite young and full of himself. Despite his mother's earnest plea's that he not do so, Billy insists on wearing his guns to town. Because in his mind he is as good as anyone and no one is going to tell him any different. Billy can't imagine why his mother would make such a foolish request. She has lived longer than him and experience has proven to her how dangerous such a thoughtless choice could be, but alas Billy was not ready to listen. The lectionary involves people making consequential decisions. Each raises the question when is it that we are ready to listen and truly hear, because sometimes when cofronted with wisdom sometimes it takes us a while to truly internalize something and hear it for what it is...