1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,160 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight 2 00:00:06,160 --> 00:00:08,920 oh Lord our strength and our redeemer. 3 00:00:08,920 --> 00:00:09,920 Amen. 4 00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:27,120 One of my favorite memories of Camp McDowell is saying complin every night at the end of 5 00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:32,320 the day in the old camp chapel which trivia question answer here it's actually named the 6 00:00:32,320 --> 00:00:36,800 chapel of the ascension if you didn't know so that's nice I don't think we had anything 7 00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:41,520 to do with building it but it is called the chapel of the ascension. 8 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:46,680 Anyway so complin includes some of my favorite prayers and scripture passages keep watch 9 00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:51,040 dear Lord with those who work or watch or weep this night. 10 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:55,840 Lord you now have set your servant free to go in peace as you have promised and also 11 00:00:55,840 --> 00:01:01,640 the famous scripture from Matthew come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I 12 00:01:01,640 --> 00:01:03,560 will give you rest. 13 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:06,960 Now over 20 years later and I'm sure it's been like this since the beginning of Camp 14 00:01:06,960 --> 00:01:12,360 McDowell complin is said in almost exactly the same way as it was when I was a camper 15 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:18,440 with a few exceptions Psalm 31 is almost always chosen the short scripture from Matthew that 16 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:23,040 I just quoted is almost always chosen and if you don't say the keep watch dear Lord 17 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:27,320 prayer then you're sure never to be asked to lead complin again. 18 00:01:27,320 --> 00:01:32,240 The most significant change that I've seen over the years is the song of Simeon of course 19 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:37,400 the words are the same but today we chant it too slowly in my opinion we need to get 20 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:41,260 Mike Sparks up there to teach him how it's really done. 21 00:01:41,260 --> 00:01:46,240 So all that is to say I should have known better I should have known better than to 22 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:51,440 offer something other than complin when I was the senior camp director this was about 23 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:58,320 six years ago while we said complin more than any other service I didn't offer it every 24 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:04,440 night and this was heresy especially for the senior campers at that session this was their 25 00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:09,520 last time that they were at camp and if they didn't do complin every night then their senior 26 00:02:09,520 --> 00:02:11,800 camp was going to fall apart. 27 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:17,900 So finally one of them got the courage to ask why didn't we read complin tonight the 28 00:02:17,900 --> 00:02:23,000 head counselor looked at me I was the session director after all I responded I wanted you 29 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:29,520 to explore other liturgies in our prayer book or even beyond our prayer book we were a tradition 30 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:33,620 rich with liturgical texts anyway we'll do complin tomorrow night. 31 00:02:33,620 --> 00:02:37,520 I could have said a whole lot more but I bit my tongue my answer was not good enough I 32 00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:43,520 don't think they heard me so another camper proposed that they have an optional complin 33 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:48,200 service I said sure you can have an optional complin service it doesn't need to be led 34 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:51,680 by a priest knock yourselves out. 35 00:02:51,680 --> 00:03:00,880 So they're saying the optional complin and the camper who is so upset is not in the chapel 36 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:07,240 he's actually talking to me still complaining about how we haven't done complin every night 37 00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:12,400 and about how much complin meant to him while we were still sitting outside the chapel while 38 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:19,120 complin was being said they were talking about how much they wanted to do complin needless 39 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:22,840 to say he did not say complin that night. 40 00:03:22,840 --> 00:03:29,000 So the next day I wanted to follow up take this as an opportunity for a teaching moment 41 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:34,240 I talked about Dietrich Bonhoeffer he was a part of the confessing church in Germany 42 00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:41,000 part of the church that that was against Hitler he was eventually found out for a plot to 43 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:45,920 kill Hitler he was put in a Nazi concentration camp anyway long before that he wrote this 44 00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:50,280 really important book if you haven't read it yet I hope you will it's called Life Together 45 00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:55,800 and in that book he talks a lot about how the biggest danger to authentic Christian 46 00:03:55,800 --> 00:04:03,520 community is that we put our own human ideas before God's reality we are quick to love 47 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:10,160 our own human constructs of community more than we love the reality that God has created 48 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:16,400 for us even though his book was published before World War II the truth he expresses 49 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:23,280 are timeless today even the biggest threat to our Christian identity is based on our 50 00:04:23,280 --> 00:04:30,140 dreams of what Christian community should look like rather than what it does look like 51 00:04:30,140 --> 00:04:31,840 in Christ Jesus. 52 00:04:31,840 --> 00:04:38,120 Bonhoeffer says Christian fellowship is not an ideal that we must realize it's rather 53 00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:44,120 a reality created by God and Christ it really is a reality created when we gather around 54 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:49,400 the word and the sacrament each and every Sunday so in an indirect way I was trying 55 00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:54,560 to tell them that Compline is not the only way to pray before bedtime even more I was 56 00:04:54,560 --> 00:05:00,600 trying to tell them that camp while amazing isn't the only way to do Christian community 57 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:08,320 and while amazing camp is not the only way the world could be so as I recall that that 58 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:16,440 moment at camp that these five parables communicate this truth that God's community God's word 59 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:23,280 is what creates Christian community not our own idealized versions of what it should look 60 00:05:23,280 --> 00:05:30,480 like after all our own ideas of community set in contrast to God's kingdom are always 61 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:37,440 incomplete imperfect and limited and if there's any reason we should have read that Genesis 62 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:43,360 lesson this morning it should be to remember that our idea of what life should look like 63 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:47,760 is very different than what God's idea of what life should look like that's one of those 64 00:05:47,760 --> 00:05:55,640 lessons that you don't take literally right anyway so our own good ideas often lead to 65 00:05:55,640 --> 00:06:01,240 self-righteousness which is antithetical to the kingdom of God and to be clear I am prone 66 00:06:01,240 --> 00:06:08,000 to love my dreams more than God's will as well so these first two parables the mustard 67 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:14,160 seed and the yeast remind us that God's kingdom is already planted in Jesus Christ that God's 68 00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:20,720 kingdom already permeates every facet of our life together that God's kingdom is found 69 00:06:20,720 --> 00:06:26,800 in the most unexpected places in the small and the ordinary in the stuff that we might 70 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:33,200 consider unclean the Jews considered yeast unclean the first two parables tell us that 71 00:06:33,200 --> 00:06:39,000 it's not up to us to go out and create something new create a new Christian community it has 72 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:44,560 already been created in God through Christ Jesus and Jesus gives us a big hint on where 73 00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:50,360 to find this kingdom it's not found in the same places that we go and celebrate our earthly 74 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:56,080 kingdoms and palaces and the grandeur of all that the kingdom of God is not of this world 75 00:06:56,080 --> 00:07:01,680 the kingdom of God is often found in the last places we would naturally look the kingdom 76 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:06,840 of heaven might be found in a worship service that she teach that that features an evangelical 77 00:07:06,840 --> 00:07:12,240 preacher who preaches for 50 minutes in a praise band an extemporaneous prayer in the 78 00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:19,960 NIV version of the Bible Jesus goes on to give us a teaching on what we are to do when 79 00:07:19,960 --> 00:07:25,640 we find the kingdom of God on earth Jesus compares that discovery to someone who sells 80 00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:29,600 everything just to buy a field to acquire that hidden treasure that's in the middle 81 00:07:29,600 --> 00:07:34,900 of the field and then to a merchant who's in search of a fine pearl and foolishly at 82 00:07:34,900 --> 00:07:40,000 least according to our standards the merchant gives up his entire livelihood everything 83 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:45,880 that he has and owns to secure that pearl of great price but such is the experience 84 00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:51,040 of the kingdom of heaven on earth we can't expect to fully live in God's kingdom on 85 00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:57,040 earth or we are still holding on to the things that we've acquired in our earthly kingdoms 86 00:07:57,040 --> 00:08:01,880 we can't expect to fully live in the kingdom of God if we cling to our own ideas of what 87 00:08:01,880 --> 00:08:07,160 it should look like rather than letting go and participating in the life that God has 88 00:08:07,160 --> 00:08:13,160 already made available in Jesus Christ now the final parable gets a little trickier this 89 00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:18,920 is a mini parable on the final judgment God will separate the good fish from the bad fish 90 00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:24,400 the bad fish are those who are consumed by the kingdoms of this world who have been basically 91 00:08:24,400 --> 00:08:28,200 put to death by the kingdoms of this world and the good fish are the ones who are fit 92 00:08:28,200 --> 00:08:33,120 for life in the kingdom now I don't know about you but this one on judgment makes me a little 93 00:08:33,120 --> 00:08:37,800 nervous I don't like it when I'm judged and I think it probably should make me nervous 94 00:08:37,800 --> 00:08:44,000 the parable on judgment challenges me to think about what I hold most sacred in this world 95 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:48,480 especially those things that are antithetical to the kingdom the parable demands that I 96 00:08:48,480 --> 00:08:55,560 take spiritual inventory and name all those temporal things I'm holding on to too tightly 97 00:08:55,560 --> 00:09:01,000 what would happen to my soul to my identity if these temporal things that I put a lot 98 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:07,480 of stock in are ripped away from my hands I'm confronted with the truth that human ways 99 00:09:07,480 --> 00:09:14,400 human ideas human possessions will only fail me in the end but there is good news right 100 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:20,160 the series of the parables ends with Jesus asking do you understand and without hesitation 101 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:24,640 they say yes and now I know you all are smart people I know you understand the message that 102 00:09:24,640 --> 00:09:29,000 Jesus is putting before us seek you first the kingdom of God and everything you need 103 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:34,000 will be given to you make your priority in this life the discovery of the kingdom of 104 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:38,400 God in our very midst and everything else will be taken care of you don't want to worry 105 00:09:38,400 --> 00:09:44,480 about anything else but the real question for us in our faith is do you trust this message 106 00:09:44,480 --> 00:09:48,840 do you trust this message enough to actually live your daily life in such a manner and 107 00:09:48,840 --> 00:09:54,240 I've said some version of this before I estimate that I live about 70 percent of my life in 108 00:09:54,240 --> 00:09:58,520 the kingdoms of this world and about 30 percent of my life in the kingdom of heaven I'm not 109 00:09:58,520 --> 00:10:03,520 exactly a star student over here but the good news is that the God is never going to stop 110 00:10:03,520 --> 00:10:08,920 working on me God will never stop working on you God will never stop working to reveal 111 00:10:08,920 --> 00:10:15,160 the kingdom of heaven even when we start looking for life in the wrong places I have experienced 112 00:10:15,160 --> 00:10:20,560 God's grace enough times to remember that God is doing everything in God's power to 113 00:10:20,560 --> 00:10:25,600 get our attention to show us a way to life and life abundant no matter how far off track 114 00:10:25,600 --> 00:10:31,720 we go finally Jesus tells the listeners who understand the message of the kingdom to train 115 00:10:31,720 --> 00:10:38,480 others and kingdom matters now I can relate to this I've been trained to teach and preach 116 00:10:38,480 --> 00:10:42,320 and you might be thinking well I'm not a preacher I'm not a teacher sure that might not be your 117 00:10:42,320 --> 00:10:47,720 job title but it's a part of your vocation as a baptized member of the church in your 118 00:10:47,720 --> 00:10:53,120 own unique way you have the opportunity to open others to the possibility that God's 119 00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:59,000 kingdom is right here right now you have the opportunity to remind people to look for God 120 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:04,120 in the small and ordinary places that we might not think to look we all have the opportunity 121 00:11:04,120 --> 00:11:10,120 to remind people that God's kingdom is here and everywhere and even there we have the 122 00:11:10,120 --> 00:11:15,820 opportunity to show people just how serious we are about living in that kingdom by making 123 00:11:15,820 --> 00:11:21,800 sacrifices daily sacrifices for the sake of the gospel because we believe it that much 124 00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:26,560 like the parables of the loaves and the fishes God has really given us everything we need 125 00:11:26,560 --> 00:11:30,800 for kingdom life for Jesus the word and the sacrament primarily that's what the church 126 00:11:30,800 --> 00:11:37,680 says it may not appear to be much on the surface but the possibility in God's kingdom are endless 127 00:11:37,680 --> 00:11:43,240 and we have reason to hope for endless possibilities because our Lord and Savior is risen from 128 00:11:43,240 --> 00:11:48,720 the dead nothing not even the power of sin and death can stop the growth of God God's 129 00:11:48,720 --> 00:11:54,360 kingdom is like that weed that just won't go away like that weed who you try to that 130 00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:58,960 you don't think should be there you can try to pull it you can try to spray it with Roundup 131 00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:05,120 but it will always grow back and faster than before so may you have the grace to surrender 132 00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:10,360 your version of what you think the world or the church should look like and trust that 133 00:12:10,360 --> 00:12:17,640 God's way is better than our way then through the risen Lord Jesus Christ a truth that we 134 00:12:17,640 --> 00:12:22,520 found in St. Paul's letter to the to the Romans even though we don't know how to pray them 135 00:12:22,520 --> 00:12:26,920 as we ought God's going to take care of it with sighs too deep for words we remember 136 00:12:26,920 --> 00:12:32,360 that in Genesis even though this is a really weird story about how Jacob gave birth to 137 00:12:32,360 --> 00:12:38,440 the twelve sons who who were the tribes of Israel God's will is accomplished for we 138 00:12:38,440 --> 00:12:55,640 follow a God a Lord and Savior who is risen from the dead Jesus Christ amen.