Magnifying the Lord

 

MAGNIFYING THE LORD

A Sermon by The Rev. Dr. John A. Dalles

Sunday, December 13, 2020

Shadyside Presbyterian Church

Psalm 126; Luke 1:46b-55

 

Mary sang…

46 “My soul magnifies the Lord,

47     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

Mary – the girl from Nazareth.  What do we know about Nazareth?  It was a small town.  Not much more than a village, really.  About 350 people, living in about 35 homes, spread over about six acres. It stood on its own small hill, 500 feet above the secluded valley. A little north of the great plain. The houses were actually cut into the cliffs. Modest houses, they stood upon the narrow knolls, and steep slopes. The limestone hillsides were like Swiss cheese; caves perforated them. Some of the houses were built over the caves, with the caves serving as the main dwelling—or as storage areas.  Mary’s parents’ home was one of these.  The town looked peaceful.  But there were plenty of troubles.  The name of their town suggested how troubled the times were.  Nazareth.  Some said it meant:  “Send us a Helper!”  Other said, “No it means ‘Send us the Victorious One!’”  But the older inhabitants took it to mean:  “Be careful!” or “Keep a Sharp Lookout!”

 

Whether it was a cry for help, or a caution to be watchful, or both, the town was like the eye of a hurricane.  A deceptive calm was there.  A storm was brewing all around them.  Nazareth was anything but tranquil, in those days.  They lived in an occupied country, where it was hard to say what was worse.  The soldiers who were billeted right there in the village. Or the traitorous neighbors, who spied on everyone and made life miserable.  Or the members of the village council, who cared less for those in need than they did for maintaining the status quo.

 

In another age, would she have looked all around, wondering where the voice might have come from. Trembling, when the Angel of the Lord appeared? If she had lived in a different age, would she have been so filled with grace?  Would Mary have been ready? Ready for the greatest gift of God, soon to be freely given to her?  If she had lived in a different age, would she have heard the news that came to her?  If she had lived in a more skeptical age, or a more enlightened age,

Or a more modern, or even post-modern age, would she have listened to the words of her relative Elizabeth:  “Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”

 

But Mary did not live in a different age. A young woman of her time, she responded out of the realities of her era.  And she sang a song that magnified the Lord.

 

Professor Rolf Jacobson of Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Minn. says:

The Magnificat is “The kind of song that has been sung by countless people of faith through the ages in resistance, in defiance of empires, slavers, terrorists, invaders, and the like.” Out of such things, came a song of wonder and praise.  Out of such things, came news that stirred her to joy and hopefulness.  For what the angel proclaimed stood in direct contrast to all that was cheap and tawdry, all that was cold and cruel, all that the people had suffered.  Magnify the lord with me.  An invitation to us all to take a closer look, a very close look indeed, at who the lord is and what the Lord is doing. Right now.

 

“50 His mercy is for those who fear him

from generation to generation”.

 

 

Mary’s song is a way to fend off what is bad, and focus on what is good.

To reject the things that would limit life, and embrace what will make life whole.

Mary is looking to the joyous arrival of Jesus. And so are we. Mary is sure that because of Jesus, the world is going to be made better.  People who have been forgotten will find a place of honor and thanksgiving.  Places that have moldered in decay will be restored.  Purposes that have been abandoned because they seemed too hard to accomplish, will come to fruition and be the source of blessing, because of Christ the Lord.  Mary speaks as if it has happened already, even before the birth of the child at Christmas.    This is an expression of pure trust and deep faith that can’t be stopped.  She knows he is coming.  It is inevitable that he will.  When he does, his mercy will prevail.  The proud and haughty will be case down.  The hungry will be filled with good things.  And his people will live into his everlasting promise.

 

          You have seen, (and I have as well), many statements and signs of late, saying how glad people will be to be done with 2020.  There is a lot of truth in that.  We are hoping that as we move ahead in time, that God our savior will look with favor on all of his servants, and that blessings will abound.  Can you permit yourself to look at this moment in your life the way Mary looked at her’s?  Can you look with a trust and assurance that is unshakable?  Can you see that because of Jesus, God is even now making things new, and right? 

 

We wish we had Mary’s original tune as well as her words.  Even though we do not, we are keenly aware that her song enlarges our understanding of God.  The fact is, the Magnificat boosts us out of discouragement. It enhances our appreciation of the Almighty.  It maximizes our awareness of God’s mighty deeds.  Our commitment increases as we hear Mary’s words.  Our hope extends.  Our vision expands. Our love is amplified.  Our thankfulness is intensified.  Our senses are heightened.  Our devotion is deepened.  Our belief is broadened.  Our wonder is widened.  Mary’s song moves from being a solo, to being an anthem, sung by Christians in every time and place.  We take up Mary’s song and sing along, in praise and blessing, in worship and adoration.  With Mary, we magnify and extol the Lord.

 

Why is it that you can still sing something you sang as a child?  That you have not sung since.  But given a chance, you know all the words by heart.  Songs are powerful.  Songs find a way into hearts that are otherwise closed.  Songs lodge in the mind like a welcome guest.  Songs become the theme of our day or our life.

Songs persist in our memory.  Even the most prosaic of songs do this.  And Mary’s song is among the most profound.  Mary’s song is about a future vision of the restoration of all humanity.  A song about the fulfilment of God’s intentions.  A song about the advent of wholeness which God has promised to the whole human family.

 

According to the church calendar, the third Sunday of Advent. Is joy Sunday, from the Latin word Gaudete ("Rejoice").  This is a day for us to stop and recognize the joy God brings into our lives, by the arrival of the king of heaven and earth.  It is as John Wesley has said:

 

"And she rejoiced in hope of salvation through faith in him, which is a blessing common to all true believers…”

 

Magnify the Lord.  Whatever your darkness, whatever your despair.

Let Mary’s song provide light and hope for you in the midst of your life this season. AMEN.

"Ah! Holy Spirit Come and Speak”

"Ah! Holy Spirit Come and Speak” a new musical composition with words by the Rev. Dr. John Dalles and music by Wm Glenn Osborn will have its premier at Mary Queen of the Universe in Orlando Florida, on Sunday, May 20, 2018 at 3:00 p.m. as part of the concert: “Come To Us Creative Spirit: A Celebration Of Pentecost”. The concert is presented by the Basilica Choir and Orchestra. Music of Rutter, Mozart, and more, are also on the program.

Dalles has been the pastor and head of staff of the Wekiva Presbyterian Church in suburban Orlando for 21 years; prior to that, he served the Fox Chapel Presbyterian Church and the First Presbyterian Church of South Bend, Indiana. Osborne is Director of Music for the Cathedral and Archdiocesan Liturgies at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore, Maryland. Before coming to Baltimore in 2015, he served as Director of Music at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Kissimmee, Florida.

The two have collaborated on more than a dozen sacred works, including “God, We Would Hear The Angels Sing”, an anthem which is featured on the CD “Christmas With The Basilica Choir”, which you can hear at this link:

God We Would Hear the Angels Sing

“Will You Really Lay Down Your Life For Me?” – X. “When Jesus Asks”

“Will You Really Lay Down Your Life For Me?” – X. “When Jesus Asks”

Zechariah 9:9-11; John 13:36-38

Sunday, March 29 – Palm Sunday

Sermon by The Rev. Dr. John A. Dalles

 

So on the one hand we have Jesus and on the other hand we have Peter, his most famous disciple.

          The conversation is unfolding in the Upper Room.  Jesus is preparing the disciples for what is to come.

          Peter is a man of bravado.  Of boldness.  A risk taker.  A maker of unexpected moves.  He is the one who leapt out of the water to walk toward Jesus…and for a moment or two, Peter also walked on the water.

          He is making another one of those leaps of faith right now. 

          The outcome is a lot like what happened when he leapt out of the boat.

          Peter’s intentions are good, his focus is right.

PETER’S INTENTIONS ARE GOOD…

Peter’s intentions are good, because they are faith based.  He is eager to go where his faith will take him.  Even if it is into risky and dangerous places.

          Faith often prompts people to go to where it is risky.  And where it is dangerous.  We are to risk putting our personal security aside, so that we can go and do what God intends.  We are to trust in God and let God deal with the danger.  We see that again and again…

          []

So for Peter and for us, having good intentions is a plus.

 

AND PETER’S FOCUS IS RIGHT…

Peter’s focus is right.

          His focus is on Jesus.  He learned with the boat and the walking on water incident, you have to keep your eyes on Jesus.  When Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, he walked on water.  When he looked away from Jesus, he began to sink.

          "Look beyond the danger" "look to Jesus"

          As you head into a new day. …Look to Jesus.

As you head into a new responsibility…Look to Jesus.

As you head into a new challenge…Look to Jesus.

As you head into a new season of life…Look to Jesus.

          The goal and focus of Jesus’ ministry

-      with those disciples for three years…

-      with each disciple who has come along since then…

-      with you throughout your unfolding years

-      and even unto today…

The goal and of Jesus’ ministry is that you will Look to Jesus.

-      Look to Jesus the source and center of your faith.

-      Look to Jesus the church's one foundation.

-      Look to Jesus your only hope and help:

-      Look to Jesus.

Now, at that moment of their conversation in the upper room, Peter was determined to keep his eyes on Jesus.

          How could he know that in a few short days, he would be quaking in fear when people in the courtyard of [] identified him as one of Jesus’ followers?  How could he know that when the chips were down, he would crumble?  Peter did not know how soon his boldness and bravado would be put to the test.  And how miserably he would fail that test.

          Listen to Jesus: “Will You Really Lay Down Your Life For Me?”

          Will you?

          Really?

          Jesus knows what no one else knows.  Jesus knows how Peter will react to the charge that he is a disciple of Jesus. 

          The question is, how will each of us react?

-      Do we know?

-      Are we as certain as Peter was…

He is the fellow who said, “Even if we must die with you—Jesus—we will not desert you.”

          Yet before very long, Peter is the one who denied Jesus three times.

 

The question is, how will each of us react?

Do we know?

Can we know…?

Being a Christian means that we are being called by God into unfamiliar situations.  Places where we feel as unprepared and as valuable as Peter did in the courtyard. 

          Such moments feels a bit scary, because there is so much uncertainty attached to it.

          What will happen if I do this or that?

How will people react?

Certainly Peter thought that he would be in grave danger if they knew for sure that he was one of Jesus’ disciples.

          A few days before, there he was among friends and wonderful fellow-disciples, and the teaching and healing ministry of Jesus and things were great.

They could all agree, what a fantastic ministry that we have.

          Then, in what seemed a twinkling of an eye, it all changed.

          Familiarity has a certain comfort to it.  But it seems that when we go with Jesus we are always going in the direction of the unfamiliar.

          We are going on wilderness journeys, or mountaintop  heights, or raging storms, or any number of situations that could catch us off guard.  We are asked to step out in to the fearful places, the unfamiliar places. 

          We know it is a risk— and we sense that it can be a good and faithful thing to do.

          The question is, how will each of us react?

Do we know?

Can we know…?

 

Jesus knows how every one of his followers will react in tight places. 

 

Have you been watching Downton Abbey?  One of the character is Carson, who sort of runs the servant part of the stately home.  Carson is concerned with every detail of how the house functions so that it ser4ves the owner and his family well.  He is also concerned about the large staff, that they know their work and do it well.  Carson is famous for maintaining traditions.  Carson is also famous for being reluctant to have innovations…the telephone…radio…

          Carson is a good servant, and almost a great servant.  If only he were not so reluctant to take on the new and next assignment…

          Bible says that we are Jesus’ servants.  Servants, God assigns for this or that kind of service.  Servants, who go and do as it seems best to God. It can be a great privilege and honor to have been assigned here of there. 

          Most importantly, though, we are to be ever-ready for that next assignment.

I suspect that in many of our lives, right now, Jesus is hanging out our next assignment.

          Are we ready?

          Jesus tells Peter that the immediate future is going to be a letdown.  And he tells peter that the more distant future will have great challenges.

³⁶ Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered, “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now; but you will follow afterward.”

[]

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will;

When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,

When the funds are low, and the debts are high,

And you want to smile, but have to sigh;

When care is pressing you down a bit—

Rest if you must; but do not quit.

 

Success is failure turned inside out;

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt;

And you can never tell how close you are

It may be near when it seems so far—

So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit—

It is when things go wrong that you must not quit.

(Anonymous)

 

 

 

 

 

“HAVEN’T I CHOSEN YOU?” – IX. “WHEN JESUS ASKS”

“HAVEN’T I CHOSEN YOU?” – IX. “WHEN JESUS ASKS”

Sunday, March 22, 2015

A Sermon by The Rev. Dr. John A. Dalles

Psalm 107:1-3; John 6:68-71

Jesus asks an important question.

Who does the choosing?

Do we choose to follow Jesus?

Or does Jesus choose us?

Follow the line of thinking in the Bible passage today and we tend to lean toward the answer

Jesus Chooses Us.

But we know our own thoughts, heart and mind.  Just like we know our own features. 

Or at least we THINK we know our own features.

But do we?

You know years ago, before there was photography, we did not really see ourselves as others see us. 

That was the point of an old poem by Robert Burns

Would the porw full gift …

The gift e gee us to

See ourselves as other see us…

Back then, before photography, we saw ourselves in a mirror, which is what:

A mirror image.

A kind of a likeness, but totally flipped from left to right from what everyone else saw.  And so a distorted view.  Recognizable.  But not right. 

Now you understand this is an illustration of a larger point.  That we really do not know everything about ourselves. 

But we know enough to get by from day to day.

We become used to our thoughts and our feelings and our likes and dislikes and our point of view on the world, and we suppose that it is a true likeness. 

Just as in the way that …

We become used to the way we look in the mirror, and we suppose that it is a true likeness.  But it is only true so far.  If you had a mirror image of a dollar bill, you would see at once it is not right, and if you took it to Bells or Target, trust me, you could not spend it. 

The same – to some extent – is true of us.

That is not to say that we are not obsessed with how we look.

We do have photography now, and we are more accustomed to looking at ourselves as we are.  But I have heard many people say that’s not me.

Not only do we have photography, but with cell phones we have this other phenomenon called the Selfie.

We are the Selfie Generation.

We take photos of ourselves in almost every imaginable situation.

I have seen selfies of people bungee jumping and sky diving.  Selfies of people on tops of buildings and at the bottom of the ocean, selfies of people with famous people and selfies of people at splashy events.  We want to record ourselves with it all.

Some of you may even have selfie-poles, so that you can get more into the frame of the picture.  A Selfie of you with the Grand Canyon. The great Plains, the entire Golden Gate Bridge, and so forth.

Selfie… 

It is good in its way.  But here’s the thing about the selfie generation.

All this Posing And Posting has a tendency to turn us all into narcissists.

-         Where the world and everything in it revolves around us. 

-         As if it is all about us.

If we come to Jesus from that point of view it is literally deadly.

What do I mean?

When we become so fixated upon ourselves; we leave no room for the Lord.

So we think to ourselves:

“I chose Jesus, Jesus did not choose me.” 

This mistaken notion makes perfect sense to us; because we have filled our frame with ourselves, and there isn’t any place for the LORD OF LIFE.   Jesus is somewhere outside the frame.  We are the big picture.

It is as I say deadly.

As deadly as what happened in Colorado not long ago.  To members of the Selfie Generation.

DENVER— A pilot who lost control while taking selfies was likely the cause of a small plane crash that killed two men this past spring, according to federal investigators.

Pilot Amritpal Singh, 29, and his passenger were killed instantly when Singh's Cessna 150K crashed into a wheat field shortly after midnight May 31. The wreckage was discovered around 7:30 MT that morning.

A GoPro camera mounted to the plane's windshield recorded Singh and several other passengers taking selfies on their cell phones during a series of short flights before the crash, the National Transportation Safety Board found. While the GoPro didn't record the flight where Singh crashed, investigators portrayed a pattern of the pilot taking selfies and possibly texting while giving rides to passengers above Front Range Airport, about 30 miles east of Denver.

Singh's plane was about 740 feet above the ground when it descended rapidly and hit the ground.”

It is horrible to think that by focusing so much one one’s self, one can actually die. 

But there is a whole long sad list of similar situations.

Last year – all over the world –

-         A woman in Spain – fell from bridge – while talking a selfie.

-         A Polish man and woman taking selfies at the cliffs of Cabo Da Roca in Portugal on August 11^th, fell to their deaths, as their children watched in horror.

Now these sad events point to a theological truth.

The point is not be careful when you take a selfie.

The point is Be Careful Who You Are Focusing On In The First Place.

 If we are spending all of our time focusing on ourselves, then sooner or later, it is not going to end well.

Jesus says, “Haven’t I chosen you?”

We need that sense of chosen-ness.

To know that we belong to him, because He wants it that way,

Jesus wants us to be in the framework of the world he is creating, which is so much bigger than the Selfie world.

The letter to the Ephesians reminds us that “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy ...”

We respond, and this is the point in which we say, we have chosen to follow Jesus.  But before that, the holy spirit was acting in our lives to bring us so the point of saying we want to follow.  God is always the prime mover, the first to choose the first to invite the first to make a place for us.  We are the ones whose calling it is to answer yes, to respond we will follow Jesus, to commit ourselves to the way of Christ.

If we were to ask ourselves what the strategy of the church of Jesus Christ is in the 21^st century.  The answer is this.  The strategy of the church in the 21^st century is the same as it has been since day one for 20 amazing centuries.  The strategy of the church is very simple, and very wonderful, and very powerful and very profound.  It is to tell the story of what Christ means to you, and to welcome otters to join with you in the journey of faith.

So draw the circle wider than a Selfie.  Draw it wider that you have imagined it till now.  It is just as Jesus says.  Jesus does the choosing.  We are called to invite people in the firm conviction that they are chosen to be among his followers.

You see there is another place in John’s Gospel where Jesus makes this point clear.  It is in John Chapter 15.  It goes like this:

You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. ¹⁶ You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. ¹⁷ I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

Do you know why God loves you the way God does? It’s not what you think. It’s more than you think. It’s because whatever we are, or whatever we are not, God welcomes all that we are, loves all that we are, and invites us in.

Jesus said, “You did not choose me, but I chose you. And I have called you friends.”

“Would You Leave Also?” – VIII. “When Jesus Asks”

“Would You Leave Also?” – VIII. “When Jesus Asks”

March 8, 2015 – Third Sunday in Lent – Two Cents Sunday

A Sermon by The Rev. Dr. John A. Dalles

OT Ps 22:23-31; NT John 6:60-69

 

Introduction

My mother’s father used to tell a story about his grandmother’s brother.  If you are following the line up the tree, this would have been my great-great-great uncle.  The story goes like this.  One day, in the middle of the Great Depression, so sometime around 1932, he went out for a loaf of bread.

He just went away.

Vanished.

No one who knew him before that day, ever saw him again.

 

Point One

Sometimes people just go away…

What makes someone do that…?

:

People who depart from one place or job or situation, do so because they believe going will be better than not going. If they go away from point a,  what they can be sure if is that they will not be at point a any longer. As far as point a is concerned, they are gone.  They have disappeared, they have pulled up stakes. Down through the bible we know of the people who left.  Adam and eve left the garden of Eden.  How did that work out for them.  The rich young ruler left the presence of Jesus.  We know it and we feel sad about it, because we think—there he was—almost a part of the great adventure of being with the Lord.  But off he went.  We know nothing more about him. All of those reasons may be well and good but when it comes to being in Jesus’ presence…

Why would anyone leave?

Jesus had been teaching his disciples about how one comes into the kingdom of God  his message is not hard to understand.  He tells them that  “no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.”

          Now, while we are all raising our hands and saying, pick me, pick me…  apparently there were those among his disciples who did not do that.  They did not want that.  John says…

^66 “Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him.”

 

Point Two

Many of his disciples turned back.  I cannot tell you one of  their names.  I cannot tell you one thing they said. Or one thing they did.  They simply vanished.  As if they had gone out for a loaf of bread in 1932 and were never seen again.

Many of his disciples turned back.

Many, but not all.

We know that there was a core group of disciples who did stay and went about with him.  We know their names. 

They were the ones who said:

“Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹ We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

Why might it be better to stay with Jesus?

To remain in the same relationship with him?

So that one can see more, do more, learn more, lean more, trust more, try more, pray more, praise more…?

Yes indeed

“You have the words of eternal life.”Jesus.  we cannot hear them anywhere else.

We can consult horoscopes Z(please don’t) they don’t work.

We can listen to the latest self help guru (please don’t unless you want to line their pockets with small green portraits of obscure presidents).

We can listen to the prognosticators who tell us this or that is about to befall us.  And there are plenty who do.

But if they are  not speaking from the vantage point of Christian faith, and the truth of Christ, why give them the time of day?

Why does a well trained sentry stay at his post no matter what the weather may bring?   The task at hand is larger than any personal preference.  The mission is more important than the person, and yes, the person finds her or his meaning in the mission itself.

Did you wake up this morning with your mind stayed on Jesus ...?

Did you keep your mind stayed on Jesus throughout the day?

Did you recall yourself immediately when you sensed that you had strayed from Jesus…?

Did you stop, return, rest, and wait for Jesus?

They you are positioning yourself to receive what Jesus is offering to you.

          Stay with Jesus.

  

Point Three

There is an aspect of our 21^st century world that has a “hello, I must be going” attitude about it.  You know what I mean.  People do not stay put much.  Statistics say that the average American will 11.7 times times in his or her life.  The average American will change not just JOBs but careers 7 tines in her or h is lifetime.  The Average American - 16% of persons born after 1970 will marry, divorce, remarry, and redivorce – in his or her lifetime.  There is a revolving door aspect of our modern world that we may regret., we may deplore, but we must understand has become the norm.

Now it is not the norm, when it comes to Christian discipleship.  Christian Disciples are called to be “above average”.

There may be some disciples like those of Jesus who were t here or only a season, or only till they could get what they wanted from him, or only until the way became a bit difficult and then they turned back.  They may  have stayed a week or two, or the summer through but then they vanished.

This is not the way of Christian discipleship.  We know it.  We know that the Christian disciples are those who have stayed with Jesus.  Yes they may have fallen asleep when he said keep watch, they may have looked momentarily away when he aid to keep their eyes upon him, they may have even denied knowing him when things got really dicey, but in the end they stayed the course and it was the course that changed the course of human history for all time.  If we think of the eleven who did not leave him at this moment in our scripture, the ones we know about, who witnessed to his death and resurrection, who went about preaching the good ne3ws, who placed their very lives on the line for him, and all of whom died in the cause of Christ—and who gained the praise of our Lord and received the promise of eternity.  Then we have the example to follow.  Anything less would be…lack of commitment, lack of faith, lack of resolve, lack of integrity.

    

Conclusion

That great great great great uncle who went out for the loaf of bread in 1932…?  He was lost to his family.  Lost for all time.  No one knows what became of him.  I doubt that anyone will ever know. 

Christian disciples don’t want to be like that.  We want to stay close to Jesus – to be part of the family of faith, to know the Lord and to  make him known.  For today and for all eternity.

Stay close to Jesus.