A family had twin boys whose only resemblance to each other was their looks. If one felt it was too hot, the other thought it was too cold. If one said the TV was too loud, the other claimed the volume needed to be turned up. Opposite in every way, one was an eternal optimist, the other a doom and gloom pessimist.
Just to see what would happen, on the
twins' birthday their father loaded the pessimist's room with every imaginable
toy and game. The optimist's room he loaded with horse manure.
That night the father passed by the pessimist's room and found him sitting amidst his new gifts and crying bitterly.
"Why are you crying?" the father asked.
"Because my friends will be jealous, I'll have to read all these instructions before I can do anything with this stuff, I'll constantly need batteries, and my toys will eventually get broken." answered the pessimist twin.
Passing the optimist twin's room, the father found him dancing for joy in the pile of manure. "What are you so happy about?" he asked.
To which his optimist twin replied, "There's got to be a pony in here somewhere!"
Some people can be positive in any
situation!
I
think it’s interesting that the first four books of the New Testament that tell
the story of Jesus are called, “Gospels.”
The word, “gospel” literally means, “good news.” The story of Jesus is a story of good news. Our faith is a good news faith.
And
really, the entire bible is one big story of how a loving God who created this
world is bound and determined to rescue it from sin and death. The bible is a story of good news.
In
our Gospel reading for today, Jesus begins his ministry by proclaiming this
good news. And notice that Jesus isn’t saying
that this good news is something that will only be for the future. This good news has already been launched in
the here and now. Listen to the present tense from this verse. Jesus
says, “The time IS fulfilled, and the kingdom of God HAS come near.”
This
is the good news of the good news! The
good news is that the good news is already happening! And it has been happening because of the
life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
Can you think of any gooder news than that? J Pardon my grammar! The good news is that the good news is
already happening!
Where
do you see the good news of the good news at work? Where do you see the good news of the good
news in your day to day living?
We
live during a time where there seems like there’s nothing but bad news. Mass shootings seem like a common occurrence,
an out of control opiod epidemic, increasing poverty, negativity abounds in
politics, the threat of nuclear war – the list goes on and on. You can see why somebody would choose to be a
pessimist instead of an optimist.
But
the good news of the good news is that God’s kingdom has already come
near. The signs of God’s grace surround
us in any given moment even in the midst of the struggles, pain, and difficult transitions
that we face in our daily living.
Jesus
certainly knew how difficult life can be sometimes. Mark tells us that just before Jesus began to
announce the good news of God’s kingdom, that John the Baptist had been
arrested. By referring to this sad
event, Mark wants us to know that in the midst of life’s struggles and
disappointments, there is hope. The
kingdom of God has come near.
Speaking of transitions, just think about Jesus calling those first
disciples. They were fishermen. In Israel, fishing was often a family
business going back several generations, even centuries. And Jesus called them to leave not just a
hobby, but their livelihood, their family business of being fishermen in order
to follow him.
When
you have a family business that has any history to it, there’s an expectation
that this will carry on with the next generation if possible. And here, these disciples were willing to say
goodbye to the world as they knew it. I
can’t think of a more daring step of faith.
When
you read this scripture, you wonder if Mark wasn’t also thinking about Abraham
from the Old Testament. Like the
fishermen in Mark’s Gospel, God called Abraham to leave what he was doing, his
home, his whole way of living in order to follow God into an unknown future.
In
her work in the Peace Corp, Stephanie was helping to stop the spread of AIDS
through the medical clinic in her village.
I remember meeting Stephanie when I first became pastor of that church. She was teaching Sunday School for the High
School youth.
Stephanie shared with me about her decision to leave the comforts of her
home and her familiar way of life. She said that there were times when she
questioned if she made the right decision to serve in this way. But then she said, “You only have one life to live so you better make sure you are living
it to the fullest.”
When
she shared those thoughts, it reminded me so much of the disciples and how Jesus
called them to leave everything and follow Him.
The good news isn’t just something that’s way out there in the
future. It’s also breaking into this
present time. As Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is at hand.”
Even
in the midst of life’s transitions, God is with us. This is the good news of the good news.
On a
Saturday evening this past November, I received a text message from someone who
was a member of my previous church. He wanted to know our worship times because
he wanted to travel down to Athens and worship with us the next day. And so I
responded with our worship times and gave him directions.
Just
before our 10:30 service that next morning, I met Mike back at our front
entrance. You just couldn’t miss Mike because he was wearing a very bright pink
polo shirt. Mike always wears something pink because it was his wife’s favorite
color.
They’re house was decorated in pink. They even had beautiful pink plants
all around the front of their house.
Mike’s wife died during my time at that church. In fact, that was my last
funeral before coming down here to Athens to become your pastor. I’ll never
forget that funeral because Mike wore a bright pink blazer to the service.
During my sermon at that funeral, I said that because of Mike and
Wanda’s strong faith during Wanda’s fight with cancer, in my mind, pink was now
the new color to symbolize the good news of our faith.
And
so, it was not surprising at all when I spotted Mike wearing a pink polo shirt
before worship here at our church on this past November morning. We hugged and had a
brief conversation before the worship service began.
I
said, “Mike, since today is All Saints’
Sunday, I’m thinking of your wife, Wanda and her strong faith.”
Mike
was taken aback. He said, “Today is All
Saints’ Sunday? I didn’t know that.” Tears welled up in his eyes. He looked
at me again and said, “All Saints’
Sunday. Hmm.”
I could tell that Mike was experiencing what
we’ve been calling a “thin place moment,” those moments when God becomes
mysteriously present in our day to day lives. It just so happened that he picked
that Sunday out of the blue and it ended up being the perfect Sunday for us to
reconnect and for him to remember and give thanks for Wanda’s life and receive
Christ’s healing love in an unexpected and holy way.
The
good news is that the good news isn’t just something for us to receive in the past or something we have to wait to receive sometime in the future. It’s also available to us in the present.
Several
year ago, I pastored a church in Xenia, a county seat town near Dayton. Xenia is unfortunately known for the large 1974
tornado that destroyed much of that city.
In 2000, I arrived at the church just a few months after Xenia had been
hit by another tornado. The church was
hit and suffered a lot of damage and I was there during the rebuilding phase.
It
was a very difficult time for that congregation. Before the tornado hit the church, they had
just completed a one million dollar building expansion. The tornado destroyed a lot of the new
addition. It was a very stressful time
for everyone. Sunday worship services
needed to be held at the local High School.
Sunday School classes met at a Senior Citizen building as well as in
other places in the community. And the
congregation was faced with yet another stressful rebuilding project.
A
member of my church wrote this journal entry about her experience during that difficult
time in the life of our church.
“I am discouraged and sad. Our church was hit by a tornado several
months ago. Much of the building was destroyed; the rest was badly
damaged. It will take a year to rebuild.
Everyone pulled together through the clean up and the start of the
rebuilding.
Now, six months later, the weariness of
living with construction has hit. We’ve
had flat tires from nails in the parking lot, and the strains of meeting in a
dozen places around town have worn our spirits thin.
We are caught in a conflict over the
reconstruction – should we rebuild what we had or redesign for future
needs? We have differing hopes, a deep
sense of loss, and competition for inadequate space.
Fierce disagreements among people who hold
different priorities make this a tense and ragged time. I am beset by ugliness and conflict. I find myself in tears, wanting to run away
from it all. I desperately want God to
gather me up like a sobbing child, hold me against his shoulder and comfort me.
As I sit in the living room, the cat
climbs onto my shoulder, snuggles down and purrs. I let go of fears and strife and I settle
into the peaceful joy of cat-cuddling.
God gently whispers into my ear, ‘This is
how I love you.’
My anguish diminishes as I understand; as
painful as this is, it will pass. I am
not alone. I am in the embrace of God.”
For Barb, she was able to embrace the good
news of the good news even in the midst of the rubble and the chaos. She was reminded of God’s love for her in a
moment when she needed it the most.
Barb
eventually included this entry in a book she wrote called “Road Grace.”
Our
Gospel reading tells us that as Jesus begins to share this good news that the
kingdom of God has come near, he calls on some fisherman to drop what they’re
doing and follow him. “Repent and believe in the good news,”
he tells them. And they followed.
Jesus’
announcement of the good news isn’t only for those fishermen. It’s also for the woman whose church had been
hit by a tornado and was facing the stress of rebuilding. It’s for the widower who wears pink polo
shirts and who misses his wife. It’s for
the young woman serving in the Peace Corp. It’s for the optimist AND the
pessimist.
It’s for anybody who hears the words, “The kingdom of God has come near.”
The Good News of the Good News
Small Group Questions
Mark 1:14-20
January 21, 2018
Pastor Robert opened the sermon with a story about a set of twins. One was an optimist and the other a pessimist.
How does the good news of Jesus Christ and your faith help you to be positive in a world that is filled with so much negativity?
Pastor Robert made the point that the good news of the good news is that God's kingdom is happening now in our present moment and not just sometime way in the distant future. He shared the story about the widower who felt Christ's presence when he visited our church on All Saints' Sunday this past November. Of all the Sundays he could have chosen to attend, he came on that particular Sunday which helped him to remember his wife with thanksgiving. Pastor Robert also shared about a church member who felt Christ's presence during a time of great stress in her church.
When have you experienced the good news of God in your day to day living? We call these "thin place moments" where heaven and earth overlap in mysterious ways in our everyday lives.
Jesus called some fisherman to come follow him and believe in the good news. Amazingly, they dropped their nets and followed Jesus. Think about it. These men gave up their family business of fishing in order to follow Jesus.
What is your fishing net that Jesus is calling you to set aside in order to follow him? What is holding us back?
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