Scripture/Sermon of the Day. April 10, 2022

Scripture Readings: Philippians 2:5

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.

Isaiah 50:4-9a

The Servant’s Humiliation and Vindication
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The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens— wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught.
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The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I did not turn backward.
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I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting.
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The Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame;
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he who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who are my adversaries? Let them confront me.
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It is the Lord God who helps me; who will declare me guilty? All of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.

Luke 19:35-37

35 Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36 As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. 37 As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen,

Reflection/Sermon:

I. I’m looking forward to Palm Sunday this year because I’m ready for a break — all of this spiritual training is wearing me out. This is our last Sunday of the season of Lent.
That means we only have one more week of spiritual training, right?
Only one more week to try to be kind, to not lose our temper so easily.
One more week to say a prayer before our meals and do our centering prayer, Bible study, doing good deeds.
And finally, just one more week to have the mind of Jesus Christ before we can get back to being our old selves again, which doesn’t take any work at all.

II. There are two 40 day training periods in the church year — Advent, before Christmas and Lent, before Easter. So what do we do the other 285 days?
Is it ok to swear at the person on the road who’s tailgating us? Can we give the finger to the driver behind us who just honked because we didn’t move quickly enough when the light changed?
Paul said let the same mind be in you that was in Jesus. HE DIDN’T MEAN EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR DID HE????

III. You all know that athletes inspire me because I talk about them a lot. One of the inspiring stories recently is Tiger Woods playing the Masters Tournament when just a little over a year ago doctors debated on whether or not to amputate his right leg. People said he’d never play golf again. And now he’s in the Masters and is prepared to walk all 72 holes.

IV. Before his accidents and before that awful time in his life when his wife chased him out of the house swinging a golf club at him, when he dominated the world of golf, this is what his training routine looked like:
Run four miles in the morning
Lift weights at the gym
Hit balls for 2-3 hours on the range
Play a round of golf
Work on short game
Run another four miles
Play basketball or tennis

V. There’s a famous quote about practice attributed to Franz Liszt in 1894: “If I miss practicing one day, I know it; if I miss two days, my friends know it; and if I miss three days, the public knows it.”
But the apostle Paul said the same thing in just two words: “Pray constantly.” PRAY IS ANOTHER WORD FOR PRACTICE. Prayer is the practice of the presence of God in each moment of our lives.

VI. Practice, practice, practice. Yesterday in Kohl’s I told Annie and her friend Gabby I’d buy them a snack if they wanted. Annie picked up a chocolate bar while I returned some things from Amazon. We were walking out of the store when Annie told me we hadn’t paid for the chocolate bar yet — so I took it to the register. Annie said, “Dad, you cut in front of that lady.” I looked at the woman and said, “It’s just a chocolate bar.” As if that made the cutting in front of her ok. She was more Christlike than I because she didn’t complain. I put the chocolate bar down at the register and put a dollar bill next to it. Annie said, “You’re going to need more than a dollar.” So I put down a five dollar bill. The candy bar turned out to be $3.50. So in the short time of just a few minutes God showed me I was….. I couldn’t think of the words, but without missing a second, Michelle said “God showed you you were a thief, rude, and cheap.” Richard Rohr says we should pray for at least one humiliation a day, to help us stay humble. Look at that — in just three minutes, God gave me three humiliations! Thanks to the spiritual help of Annie and Michelle. Practice, practice, practice….

VII. Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a colt, not a warhorse. And six hundred years earlier, Isaiah had a vision of Jesus as someone who sustains the weary with a word, and listens to people, and follows where God leads, even if his words of love upset people and cause them to pull out his beard and spit in his face. This is what we seek — the mind of Christ. So Lent may be almost over for this year but our spiritual practice continues every day.