Visiting Minister
“Fill Our Plans with Purpose”
Luke 4: 14-21
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Last week “fill my house with Hoping.” We gave out affirmation cards in worship and you were give cards of affirmations to give out this past week. Sometimes we can carry Hope for each other.
This week’s theme is “Fill My Plans with Purpose.”
Prayer: Loving God, we pray that the words of the mouth and meditation of all our hearts and minds are touched by your transforming spirit and vision…Amen.
Story – sitting at traffic light, waiting to turn left on ? Main street by science world. Island right outside my driver-side window there is a man without a home by the looks of how much he was carrying, asking for money. Hot day. I don’t usually give money, often give food and say hello. I was on my way to a pot luck and had a dozen buns in the car. Waiting at the red light, I showed him and asked if he wanted the buns. To my surprise he said “no thanks.” And then he said “I’m too thirsty to eat them.” So I offered him my water bottle, which he took with thanks, then I asked him if we wanted the buns, he took them with thanks. Light turned green…off I went…remember his words… “I’m too thirsty to eat.”
We don’t always know what someone wants /needs.
At first when I read the scripture…I thought oh no…this is the center… the focus of the Gospel…this a little too much purpose for where I’m currently at. Sometimes, lately it’s just about getting through the day…
NRSV
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, 19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Message
God’s Spirit is on me;
he’s chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor,
Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and
recovery of sight to the blind,
To set the burdened and battered free,
to announce, “This is God’s time to shine!”
This is the ultimate job description/purpose for Jesus. It’s been approved by the Ministry and Personnel Committee UC…approved by Human Resources department. This is it. The rest of the Gospel of Luke goes on to do 2 things. One to further explain this good news to the poor and sight to the blind, oppressed go free and secondly to do it and show us how to do it.
You see this job description/this purpose is the job description/purpose for us too. As followers of Jesus…in our hearing of this scripture it is fulfilled. That’s the part that feels like too much. I – we – United Church – has to work away at bringing and doing this good news. It is our purpose. In today’s world of hurts, greed, corruption, politics, this is a big ask. This is more than passing on our clothes and toys that we no longer need or want. All though that is a good thing to do and a good thing to teach our children to do.
(I want to talk more about housing…study showing church property across Canada could solve housing crisis… too much to say here)
Jesus didn’t write this job description/purpose. He drew on the ancient wisdom of the prophet Isiah from over 2000 years earlier. As a Jewish boy and student he would have learned these words of Isaiah. Message translation has Jesus say “You’ve just heard Scripture make history. It came true just now in this place.” It is true for the first listeners in Luke. And in our hearing it is true for us here today.
So where do we go from here?
Let’s start with bringing good news to the poor.
At Vancouver School of Theology, one of my professors Sallie McFague got my attention. She started of the lecture saying…if you have a pension plan or a medical plan or a mortgage either paid off or still paying…you are not poor…by the worlds standards.
At the time I was feeling poor because at mid-life with teen age kids, I was spending lots of our families money/resources on tuition to Vancouver School of Theology…and not able to work while a student. And her statement also got me thinking about how well off I was living in Canada even when paying the bill was tight.
So it begs the question who is this Good News for? Is it for me too? Living safely in Canada? Is it for you? Who is poor, who is captive, who is oppressed, who is blind? At times we may feel poor…poor in spirit…poor in being able to pay the rent and buy groceries. At times we may experience oppression because of our gender or sexual orientation or heritage or health status. Abundance and freedom are good news for us too, as we have those experiences. This is God’s promise when we find ourselves “in the wilderness” so to speak. But it’s so much more than that. This good news is about bringing abundance, freedom and vision to others who need to hear it and experience it.
So how do we do that? And is there a cost?
I’m going to shift from us from the ideas of personally experiencing being poor to thinking more globally.
This week’s news, there is a cease fire announced in Gaza and Israel and plans for releasing of hostages and prisoners on both sides.
I want to talk about Jimmy Carter. Former USA president who died recently at age 100. I think most people seem to agree he was a man of integrity, honesty from humble beginnings on a peanut farm. He was also a Christian and would speak up and take action for the poor and oppressed.
by Jonathan Kuttab Friends of Sabeel North America
“…I learned this week that he spoke up for Palestine many years ago…. He made mistakes, to be sure. Yet, he had the grace to acknowledge them, especially after he left office, where he continued to be involved in public life in his capacity as ex-president and mere citizen. He did not hesitate to leverage his resume, credentials and connections, but he did so to do good on the world stage, wielding nothing but his moral stature and stellar reputation.
For Palestinians, his record was astounding… after he left office he truly did invest much of his time and effort to address Palestinian concerns, even taking positions that were quite unpopular in the US political context (and generally ignored by the media).
In the many eulogies you will hear about President Carter these days, you might not hear that he actually met with Hamas leaders, declaring afterwards that they were not the obstacle to peace.
He was the first mainstream politician to use the term “apartheid” in reference to Israel and was roundly attacked for it. Several members of the board of his Carter Center resigned over his use of the term, and he was viciously attacked and denounced as anti-Semitic. But all that did not deter him in the least. One time, while visiting Palestine, he graciously accepted the thanks of a Palestinian girl from Gaza. He told her that her simple thanks made all his efforts worthwhile, and that with people like her in mind, he did not mind all the false accusations being thrown at him.”
(He was also a carpenter (by hobby) and actively worked with his hands, making furniture or working on building houses for the poor with Habitat for Humanity.”)
Jimmy Carter is a Christian who often took some heat and rejection because of his speaking up for social justice and rights for all people. He wasn’t afraid of the job description – the purpose we inherit a followers of Jesus to bring good news to the poor and work to help the oppressed be free.
Our United Church Moderator the Right Rev. Dr. Carmen Lansdowne wrote in October 2024 about supporting justice and peace in Palestine and Israel.
“We are obligated, in Canada and globally, under international law to work towards an end to the injustices underlying (the) violence.”
There are United Church people across Canada working for peace in Palestine for many years now. Speaking out against the Israeli occupation in Palestine and the the genocide of Palestinians.
Palestine and Israel and has been and continues to be a difficult topic to talk about…even as we watch it daily in our local news. Layers of history, fear of being accused of being anti sematic contribute to not speaking up for a ceasefire and delivery of humanitarian aid of food and medical help. In spite of challenges people do speak up and learn about how our voices and actions can help.
Canadian Doctor working in Gaza – Speaking Feb. 2, 12:30 Vancouver Church
It can be difficult to know what to do in our world with so many needs…and sometimes… some days… for some of us…we are simply trying to get through the day…
Following Jesus…accepting this purpose… this job description to bring good news, abundance, vision and freedom to all people. How do we approach this? How do we do “right living” with God as followers of Jesus?
Not what God demands for righteousness (right living with God)…rather we ask… who needs attention and compassion? This is a guideline for us… Not even to ask what should I do? But rather first ask who needs attention and compassion…and then listen to them…learn from them. Remember the man on the side of road who was too thirsty to eat the bread…I needed to listen to him…to not assume I knew what he needed. Once his thirst was quenched he could also eat.
How did Jimmy Carter continued to speak up for Palestine when it was costly to him personally…how do United Church and other human rights advocates continue to speak up for lasting ceasefire, peace and humanitarian aid when others (myself included) can barely watch the destruction on the news.
How does Jesus first accept and then pass on to us this job description, this purpose “to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, 19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
How can we do this…remember what Jesus said when he started to speak to the gathered crowd… “the Spirit of the Lord is upon me”…He is not acting alone…just as we cannot act on our own. We are guided, lead, challenged and comforted by the Spirit of the Lord up me…Each of us when we have eyes to see and ears to hear.
Worshipping, praying, singing, bible interpretation, relationships and being community together and knowing we are not alone…this is how the Spirit of the Lord is upon us…individually and communally. (later at Pentecost we have the holy spirit come upon the whole group collectively)
Jesus was in the wilderness before he proclaims these words, before he fills our plans with purpose to bring this good news to all. Maybe you personally are in the wilderness…we often don’t know what goes on in people’s lives…that can put them in the wilderness…grief, mental health, addiction, separation from family, shortage of money to live, past trauma…so many things can put us in the wilderness.
And we are living in a community and building a world that asks not what does God demand for right living…rather who needs attention and compassion?”
I pray that you are both a giver and receiver of attention and of compassion, that you reach out for help when needed, that you open your ears and eyes to listen of the needs of another, that you notice oppressive structures and systems and join with others to bring in God’s abundance, freedom and vision for jars to be full for all people.
Today we are given our purpose rooted in God’s love… from Isaiah to Jesus to us…
Today we are given the promise the spirit of lord is upon me…and you…and you…and you…
May it be so, Amen.
(Transformed people transform)