"Donut Miss It" - Dan Bender

Everybody says they can remember where they were or what they were doing when major events happened in the past. I am no different. When I was in college, we decided it was a good idea in the first week or so into the school year to try to stay out all night long and get in line to be the first people who were in line when the Cranberry Krispy Kreme was opened. I can't say that ultimately it was the best decision, as staying up all night usually isn't. But we did have a lot of fun playing ultimate Frisbee in the adjacent Kmart parking lot.

As the morning drew nigh, the line started to grow, and we did in fact get pretty close to being the first ones. We were only beat out by this one lady who brought a tent; and, apparently, this is what she does. She travels to the openings whenever they happen. So, on the one hand we didn't get to be first, but we did get on the news.

There is likely a video clip out there in the ether of the group of us with a megaphone leading different cheers to the people who were behind us in line. Making a pure spectacle of ourselves all for some donuts.

So, after it was all said and done, we got the donuts and headed back to campus; and I went back to bed. I slept until the afternoon. When I woke up, it was like everyone on campus had left. I couldn't find anyone on my floor. I lived on the 3rd floor. As I descended the steps, I came across some people in the lounge, and I asked them where everyone was. They said everyone had made their way to pray in the gym. They asked, “How could you not know what is going on right now”?? I told them about where I was. That is when I sat down and started watching the only TV around. This was the morning that 9/11 happened.

This week we are going to be looking at another moment. Perhaps the most important moment in history and how people interacted with it. We are going to walk a little bit down the Holiday Road and catch up with Jesus and the two bewildered men.

Read Luke 24:13-35 (this week’s text) and interact with the following questions:

1. Who were the two men who were walking down the road?
2. What do you find interesting about the interaction between these two and Jesus?
3. Why do you think that this interaction is important to the overall story?
4. At what point did they really understand that it was indeed, in fact, Jesus among them?
5. Have you ever been walking through life and been unknowingly in Jesus’ presence?
6. If you were able to realize His presence, what allowed you to do that?

"Can you see it?" - Henry Knapp

I spent much of my time in college trying to imagine what something looked like that was far too small to see. When I was studying chemistry and physics at school, one of the challenges for me was that I couldn’t SEE what I was trying to learn. Electrons, atoms and molecules are simply way too small to be able to look at (though electron-microscopes were beginning to provide some pictures). Without actually seeing what you are studying, it was hard to imagine it.

The capacity to visualize something is an incredibly helpful ability. So much is beyond our immediate senses. We can’t smell at a distance, touch history, hear ultrasonic pitches, or see microscopic elements. In order to process descriptions of such things, our minds “visualize” it—imagine what it might look like. Since so much of our faith is grounded in history anchored in the Middle East where most will never physically go, it is often helpful to “visualize” things.

In our study of the Kingdom of God, appearing with the King, Jesus, so much of the action has happened in and around the Sea of Galilee. Once again this week, the sea is the setting for the presence of the Kingdom. Visualizing the Sea of Galilee and the surrounding countryside is helpful in grasping the events Mark narrates.

•  Galilee was both the surrounding country and the sea which dominates the area.
• There were about 2-3 million people, mostly Jewish, living in the region of Galilee during Jesus’ time.
• The whole region of Galilee was about the size of Rhode Island.
• The Sea of Galilee is about 13 miles long by 8 miles wide, about twice the size of the city of Pittsburgh, about a quarter of Allegheny County as a whole.
• The Sea of Galilee is a freshwater lake and is the second-lowest lake in the world, about 700 feet below sea level, and is over 140 feet deep in spots. (At its deepest spot, Lake Erie is about 200 feet deep).
• The hilly part of Galilee has mountains that near 4,000 feet high, taller than the highest peak in PA.
• The mountains and valleys surrounding the Sea of Galilee form a funnel where the wind can suddenly whip through, subjecting the sea to sudden squalls, brief storms, and strong winds.
• Galilee can experience up to 50 inches of rainfall a year, more than twice that of Jerusalem and surrounding areas. Note: Pittsburgh averages around 40 inches per year.

All these geographic facts can help us visualize what Jesus and His followers experienced in and around the Sea of Galilee. Imagining the situation, even putting yourself in the shoes of the disciples, is an incredibly helpful tool in understanding the Gospel messages. This follows a general principle of biblical interpretation: Remember that God intends the Bible to impact human lives.  We need to read it as though it was experienced and lived by real human beings. Putting ourselves “in the picture” as we are reading the text helps explore the depths of God’s Word for us each and every day.

In preparation for worship on Sunday, please read Mark 4:35-41.

1. What relevance might there be in noting that it was the evening (verse 35)? What questions might you ask to understand this more? What background information would help clarify if “the evening” is important here or not?

2. Note that they left without the crowd (verse 36). Given the role of the crowd in Mark’s gospel up until this point, what might this imply?

3. What indications are there about the severity of the storm? What does the passage say to indicate how bad the storm was?

4. What are all the reasons Jesus might have been asleep in the boat? What “physical” reasons are present? What “spiritual” reasons?

5. Why would the disciples imply that Jesus does not care if they drown (verse 38)?

6. The command that Jesus gives—“peace, be still”—is a good summary of God’s work of redemption in our lives. How so?

7. There is a great piece of irony between verses 40 and 41. Can you identify it? How might this irony summarize the point of the passage as a whole?

Building a Model Airplane - Henry Knapp

When my son, Jason, was young, we built a model airplane together. Not one of the plastic, snap-the-pieces-together kind but the balsa wood/glue/fabric kind. It was the first of a kind for us to attempt this; and as you can imagine, it was a learning experience. One of the first lessons I learned was that I way overestimated Jason’s interest at his very young age! Building the model was a long and involved process; and keeping his attention, day after day, was a challenge. Being so young, Jason wasn’t used to delaying the satisfaction of finishing something quickly for the deeper joy of finishing something challenging.

One of the other lessons we learned together was that things can get a lot messier before they come together. If you’ve ever built one of these planes, you know that you cut a lot of random looking balsa pieces, glue together planks into haphazard shapes and fashion various units that seem totally arbitrary. In no time, your desk is covered with odd-looking forms that seem completely jumbled.

Now, if you are intent enough to read the instructions well, and can keep in mind the overarching goal, most of what you are doing will make sense. However, if you are impatient, lack the plan’s vision, or are simply too focused on the wrong thing, then right up toward the end of the project, it looks like a heaping mess.

But then, miraculously, it all comes together! You glue this weird looking piece to that oddball joint, add another thingy, and…bam! Suddenly, you have a beautiful model airplane!

And so, it appears, is the coming of the Kingdom of God. Defying all expectations; appearing in ways we don’t expect; coming in pieces that don’t seem to fit together; messy, weird, odd. Yet, when it is fully manifest…beautiful beyond measure!

Jesus attempts to communicate this to the disciples and in the Gospel accounts over and over again. The Kingdom of God is marvelous beyond imagining, yet, oh, so not what we would think. All too frequently, there are not bells and whistles. No earth-shattering pronouncements. No dramatic transformations. So much so that we might miss or, worse, dismiss the reality of the Kingdom when it appears.

The Kingdom of God has come in Jesus Christ. Not at all the way most thought it would appear, but total and full in every way. The Kingdom is nothing at all as we would think, and exactly what we need. The Gospel of Jesus Christ brings the Kingdom into our hearts in surprising and majestic ways, perhaps not as we expect, but as we need. We are transformed by Christ, and that transformation occurs in unexpected ways.

So much of God’s work in our lives is not as we would expect. He does not often make us immune to temptation. He does not always keep us from trials. He does not make things easy. Messy, gluey, random…yet, from the haphazard events of our lives, God brings redemption. And what He does individually for us, He is accomplishing throughout His world.

The Kingdom of God is at hand! Come celebrate the King with me this Sunday.

Read Mark 4:21-32.

1. Why would anyone be tempted to put a lamp under a basket or under a bed? What would the point be? Where would Jesus have come up with this illustration?

2. Who or what does the lamp “stand for”? Not everything is a metaphor or analogy in a parable, but what does Jesus have in mind here? What are some options?

3. How do verses 24 and 25 sound in your ears? Does this appear harsh? Or, correct/just? How does this cohere with the rest of Jesus’ teaching?

4. In the parable of the seed growing (vs. 26-29), what part of the parable is like the Kingdom of God? What is Jesus’ main point here? What is He trying to communicate to His listeners?

5. The same question for the parable of the mustard seed…what is Jesus trying to say?

6. How do these parables, working together, encourage your Christian growth? What does Jesus hope to motivate within us?

Random Historical Facts - Henry Knapp

*In March of 1843, John Quincy Adams became the first President to be photographed.

*England was the first country to popularize square dancing.

*More than 3,000 years ago, the Maya, Toltec, and Aztec peoples used the cocoa bean to produce a chocolate drink.

*The Colossal Squid, the largest known invertebrate weighing in at around 1,000 pounds, was first discovered in 1925.

*Following a three-year siege, the city of Carthage was destroyed by the Roman Empire in 146 BC.

*While filming The Wizard of Oz, Judy Garland’s (Dorothy’s) best friend on the set was the actress who played the Wicked Witch of the West.

*Jesus Christ rose bodily from the dead.

 Of course, for many, the resurrection of Jesus is a challenge to embrace. Some want to spiritualize it (“still alive in the hearts of His followers”). Some want to turn it into a conspiracy (“He wasn’t really dead”). Some just deny it outright (“Oh, come on! No one can do that!”). But to Christians, Jesus’ resurrection is the bedrock of our faith, as historically accurate, as factually true, as anything in the world. Failure to embrace the truth of the historic bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead places you outside the Christian faith.

 Having said that, for many believers, the resurrection is often treated as no more than a quirky historical fact. The fact that Rome destroyed Carthage, or that J.Q. Adams was the first photographed President, makes very little difference in our daily lives. It appears that Jesus’ resurrection often strikes believers similarly—an interesting, true, historical fact that seems to have little impact on our daily lives. Of course, stating it like that, we quickly see the enormity of our error—How could anything be more important to us? Yet, how often do we dwell upon, or even consider, the resurrection?

 The centrality of the resurrection for our faith is not simply theoretical, not simply something to keep in mind; the resurrection of Jesus is to shape our everyday living. So says the Scripture.

 One of the great promises of the Bible—our eternal presence with the Lord—is built upon Jesus’ resurrection: “because He lives, we will live with Him.” It is hard to imagine a more powerful assurance; because He rose from the dead, we know that we will as well (1 Corinthians 15; Romans 6). Confident of this, a secure eternal life, we live every day with that promise near at hand.

 However, it is not simply for the future that the resurrection of Jesus dominates our experience as Christians. Paul writes that, “the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead… will also give life to your mortal bodies” (Romans 8:11). That life the Spirit gives is not simply a life in the future, but a life now in the present. The Spirit of Christ empowers us to a life that basks in the power of the resurrection now. Every day the believer is to live in the resurrection by the power of the work of the Spirit, and that changes everything.

 I hope you will join me this Easter in our celebration of this pivotal event of our faith.

In preparation for Sunday, read Paul’s marvelous chapter 8 in Romans, focusing on verse 11.

 1. How does Paul’s argument lead up to verse 11? What is his overall point? What is the thinking that leads to a discussion of the Spirit?

 2. The Spirit is said to “dwell” within the believer. What do we make of that? How is that possible?

 3. Verse 11 is an “if/then” statement. What is the “if”? How can you know if the requirements have been met or not?

 4. What is the “then” part of the statement? What does that entail?

 5. Notice that the life which we have is connected to the Spirit. At the end of the verse, how does Paul connect the two? Can you have the one without the other? Where does the resurrection fit in?

Great Expectations - Dan Bender

Have you ever known that an event, gathering, conversation, and or situation was going to be coming and you have built up in your mind what it would be like only for it to be completely different than what you have imagined?

I am sure that you have. I know that I have. In fact, this happens way more than we think that it does, and I am wondering why we can miscalculate what something might be like as often as it happens?

It is a natural thing to do, I think. To overestimate and underestimate. To create scenarios with bits of information and turn that into entire experiences…In a lot of ways, this is an incredible strength that we as humans possess. When this superpower is harnessed, it is capable of doing amazing things. But, when it is unchecked it can be a big problem.

How many things have you talked yourself out of before you ever even got there? How many relationships have you not started because of what you thought that person was like without actually meeting them? How many opportunities have been left on the table?

I am glad that Jesus didn’t get cold feet.

I am glad that even though He knew what was coming, He stayed the path.

Where we would have miscalculated, He counted the cost.

Where we would have walked away, He walked towards.

This Sunday we enter into Holy Week. Another time to remember the totally remarkable way that Jesus walked in the face of everything He knew was coming. You see, Jesus did what we could never do: Lived in perfect obedience, lived in perfect integrity, and lived on purpose.

This is why we celebrate.

We were lost, wanderers, unable to save ourselves.

Now we are found, rooted, and saved by Jesus.

May you find a deeper, richer, fuller knowledge of what Jesus has done for you this Holy Week.

Some Questions to center ourselves with this week:

 A. Think of a situation where things have not gone as you had anticipated:

1. What was the most upsetting part of that experience?

2. Were there any moments that were redemptive?

3. Did you take a posture that was open or closed to the change in plans?

 
B. Change is a difficult thing for us to deal with sometimes:

1. What is it about change that you don’t like – be very specific.

2. What is it about change that you do like – be very specific.


Read the following to get your heart and mind centered in our entrance to Holy Week this Palm Sunday, The Triumphal Entry in each Gospel, and text your questions to 262-287-1583!

Matthew 21:1-11

Mark 11:1-11

Luke 19:28-44

John 12:12-19

American Graffiti - Dan Bender

 You may or may not have known this, but memes have been around for a long time. It is not just something that we have coined in the last decade, but there is a long and illustrious history of memes. You may have seen this before, and you may know its history. This little guy here is named Kilroy, and he was here. 

  Borrowed from Wikipedia: Kilroy was here is a meme[1] that became popular during World War II, typically seen in graffiti. Its origin is debated, but the phrase and the distinctive accompanying doodle became associated with GIs in the 1940s: a bald-headed man (sometimes depicted as having a few hairs) with a prominent nose peeking over a wall with his fingers clutching the wall.  "Mr. Chad" or just "Chad" was the version that became popular in the United Kingdom. The character of Chad may have been derived from a British cartoonist in 1938, possibly pre-dating "Kilroy was here". According to Dave Wilton, "Sometime during the war, Chad and Kilroy met, and in the spirit of Allied unity merged, with the British drawing appearing over the American phrase."

 It was interesting where he turned up. It was interesting how often he turned up. One person who was interviewed said that it was a morale booster when a group or soldiers would come through an area and see this little guy peeking out at them. It was like a way point marker saying, this ground has been covered, proceed. 

 Fast forward 80 years. 

 There is a scene in Avengers End Game where Captain America is in armed conflict with Thanos and the battle is raging. Just as Captain America seems to be winning and is really taking it to Thanos, he is destabilized and knocked to the ground; and it is near curtains for him. It seems as though he has been beaten. Then he hears in his ear piece… “On your left.” This is Sam. You can tell there is a moment of disbelief, on everyone’s part. Sam shows up at the most unexpected time and brings the cavalry. The rest of it is cinematic history. It’s one of my favorite moments I have ever seen on the big screen. 

 There are moments and things that transcend time. This is largely because they capture the feeling or essence of a situation. Have you ever noticed that for something that is TRUE, it is not NEW? There is something long lasting, survival like and enduring about TRUTH. It captures moments, yet also transcends moments. This week as we prepare to talk a bit about some transcendent moments in the Word of Truth, I’d like you to interact with some of these questions:

1. What are some Biblical truths or Scriptures that you go back to time and time again for inspiration, comfort or a motivational kick? 

 2. Think back to a time in your life where you were “lost in the moment” – Get really into this question. What did it feel like? What did it smell like? What did taste like? If applicable…. What was it about that moment where it either stopped time or you can instantly transport back there in your mind/heart?

 3. Take some time and search out the Bible story, book, excerpt, etc. that has been an example of this in your walk of faith. Why do you think you connect with this? What Truth is embedded here that draws you to it? 

"Oh yea, I had a dog like that too..." - Henry Knapp

Nothing helps drive a point home better than good illustration. Public speakers (and this certainly includes preachers) are well aware of the value of a good story or personal anecdote to help lock an idea into someone’s head. While the majority of my time sermon-prepping is taken up with biblical exegesis—making sure I understand correctly the scriptural text—a good part of my time is spent trying to find the best way to communicate the main points of a passage; and good communication frequently involves finding good examples to illustrate the text.

Of course, there are dangers, many dangers, in using an illustration to supplement a biblical text. All too often, people remember the cute story and forget the point. Or, they identify with the illustration so strongly that they reject the application. Or, they get lost in the story, forgetting that it ties to a biblical principle. It is not unusual for someone to come up to me following a sermon and identify with a minor illustration or example I used and clearly miss the point.

After all, a good illustration is one in which everyone can identify, hence, everyone brings their own background to the story. If I use my dog as an example to illustrate a biblical point, people can easily get distracted by the dog itself.  What kind of dog? Did you like the dog? How much is your dog like my dog?

Sometimes illustrations can be distractions.

But, used well, a good story not only emphasizes a previous point, but it can teach us as well. This seems to be the root of Jesus’ use of parables. In the Gospels, Jesus illustrates His teaching with 30-40 parables (depending on how you count them). Like a great illustrator, Jesus uses short, pithy stories to drive home His Gospel message; and, like a great communicator, His parables both illustrate and teach us about the Kingdom of God. The parables challenge us, teach us, and engage us.

However, the negative is possible as well. The parables are often misunderstood. Sometimes we can’t get past the “homey” nature of a parable.  Sometimes we wonder who people in the parable represent.  Sometimes we get the point but fail to extend it to the Kingdom teaching Jesus has in mind.

With some intentional care, these challenges can often be overcome. Remembering that the parables reflect Jesus’ own culture, that they are not analogies where everything parallels something else, that there is usually just one main point being illustrated, that Jesus’ interest is in the Gospel and the Kingdom of God… keeping these in mind will usually help us not miss the point of the parable, the goal of the illustration. This doesn’t demand hard work, but it does mean that we need to read the parables carefully, as we should all Scripture.

I encourage you to join us this week in worship as we explore “The Parable of the Soils” together!

Read Mark 4:1-20.

1. How does the setting of this parable by the sea, with Jesus on a boat, the crowd on the shore, give insight into Jesus’ teaching?

2. Who is the “sower” in Jesus’ illustration? What are the options, and how does the parable shift depending on who you think the sower might be?

3. In verse 14, the seed is identified with “the Word.” How does this describe Jesus’ ministry? If the seed was linked with Jesus’ healings or actions, how would that change the point of the parable?

4. All four types of “soils” or places where the seed falls can be pictured as the willingness of the heart of a hearer to respond to God’s Word. How might you “nick-name” the different soils? What adjectives might you apply to the word “heart” to describe them?

5. The section in the middle, verses 10-13, describes why Jesus teaches in parables. This is easily considered one of the “hard sayings” of Jesus. What questions do these verses evoke? How would you explain this to a young Christian?