Now not Later
Notes
Transcript
I feel a need to change up the sermon this week. So, let’s turn to the Gospel of Mark chapter 1 verses 9-15. I will be reading from the NRSV translation.
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
This text should sound somewhat familiar as we typically read it on Baptism of the Lord Sunday and then the other part a couple Sundays later. Now, here we are reading the whole section today. Why, is that? It was part of a sermon that I preached regarding prayer in schools, a temptation, and what we can do.
This scripture is also used to mark the beginning of Lent, a period of 40 days, not including Sunday. It starts on As Wednesday and ends on the Saturday prior to Easter, known as Holy Saturday. Which is based on Jesus’ 40 days spent in the wilderness being tempted by the Satan with some things.
I have struggled with this sermon some. My thoughts were going crazy I was working on it throughout the week. These past couple weeks have been crazy. As protests have been peaceful. Which were followed by the unfortunate rioting and looting. I have been praying for all these communities, people involved, police departments, and others as things happen in order to bring about justice and peace.
As, I sat, praying and thinking about the events, I began to reflect on some posts that I had read on Facebook that morning and the night before. Now, I have to say, I’m probably going to step on some toes today, but I believe that stepping on toes is God’s way of telling us that we need to reflect on things. Trust me, my toes have been stepped on a lot by sermons and are still stepped on. But, one of the posts I saw a lot was we need God back in our schools.
Friends, God is in our schools. God never left our schools. I know you are sitting there thinking, “Todd, when we were in school, we had a time of prayer.” I must point out, prayer was first removed from schools in 1962. So, it has been almost 56 years since prayer and bible reading have been taken out of school. An interesting side note is, there are a lot of high schools now which offer a bible course as an elective. But, God in the schools is not the answer.
Even during the time of prayer and bible readings being part of school there were school shootings happening. On Feb. 14, 2018, the AJC posted an article that listed the worst school shootings in US history. The one that was at the top of the list was in 1927. Most of the others have happened in recent years but the numbers say that school shootings happened even while there was prayer and bible readings in school. The totals for each century have been on the rise but so has the population and number of schools.
As I said, prayer and Bible readings might not be part of school today but God is still in the schools. Some of you are probably thinking, “how can God be in schools even with these tragic events happening?” God gave us free will and has allowed us to make our own chooses, if this were not the case then we would be puppets and God the puppet master. The problem is not that prayer and reading the Bible has been removed from school but it is that prayer and Bible reading has been removed from the family. We have become a society that is on the go and this constant movement has taken away from time to sit and read the Bible and pray together.
Not only has the busyness of life taken prayer and Bible reading out of our daily routine as a family but it has taken out our time together. I mean, who remembers sitting at the dinner table as a family and talking about each other’s day. Even with all the running around my family did with sports, we still sat and ate dinner together and talked about our day. That seems to be a thing of the past. Most families today run through the drive thru on their way to the next event. Parents don’t take time to talk to their kids and listen to how life is going. Parents don’t tell their kids they love them.
Friends, I have to say, the way society is today is not something new and is not the cause of prayer and the Bible being taking out of school. It has been caused by a lot more than that. It has been caused by Christians not spreading the love of God. It has been caused by Christians allowing worldly desires to get between them and God. It has been caused by our own free will.
Our baptismal covenant says that we will “accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves?” This is followed by a question of “Will you nurture these children (persons) in Christ’s holy Church, that by your teaching and example they may be guided to accept God’s grace for themselves, to profess their faith openly, and to lead a Christian life?” See friends, we have failed this generation as a church. I personally do not want the school system teaching my children prayer or biblical studies. I do not believe it is the responsibility of government run organization to teach Bible studies to children but it is mine and yours based on our baptismal covenant.
Jesus announced in our scripture today, “Now is the time!” He did not say later. Friends, Now is the time to announce God’s Kingdom. Now is the time to spread the Gospel message to remind everyone of the love of God but we also need “change our hearts and lives, and trust this good news!” Friends, stop blaming others for the way society is and start being an agent of change in the world. Be an agent of God spreading God’s love. Help bring families back to God. So, as we go through this season of Lent, I challenge you to reflect on if you are spreading the Gospel message or allowing the world to direct your message.