Several years ago on a Sunday morning in a large downtown church, the minister had read the scripture lesson and was taking a deep breath before launching into the sermon when suddenly a man, a stranger, stood up in the balcony. "I have a word from the Lord!" he shouted across the startled congregation. Heads swiveled upward to see the source of this interruption. What "word from the Lord" did this man bring? We’ll never know. Ushers bounded like gazelles up to the balcony and, before the man could say another word, they had escorted him down the stairs and out of the building.

Kind of weird isn't it? Sunday after Sunday countless preachers in pulpits spread out their sermon notes, clear their throats, and start to preach, saying - or at least implying - that they have a word from the Lord. But nobody tenses. No heads swivel in alarm. No ushers suddenly leap into action. Instead, people fiddle with their bulletins, silently check their watches, and settle in for the sermon. What are we expecting? A sermon? Yes. A word from the Lord? Well...

I’ll bet it was this way that Sabbath in Nazareth. A local product, Joseph's son Jesus, was home for the weekend and was allowed to read the lesson from the prophets and to preach the sermon. The congregation knew him well, remembered him as a little boy, some may have been no doubt proud of the reports that had filtered down from Capernaum and other towns about his success as a preacher, teacher, and wonder worker.

Others...well, what would it be like to grow up in a town where one of the kids...where there were actually questions about who his father WAS anyway, kept saying, “I am the Son of God.’ So they settled in to hear what this articulate young man would say. What were they expecting? A sermon? Yes. A word from the Lord? Oh....I don’t know.

Part of the reason we expect a sermon but not a word from the Lord is, much as we may want to deny this, we really do not want it. A sermon can be nice religious words, but a word from the Lord is disruptive.

A sermon can be tucked away or even ignored; a word from the Lord must be listened to. A word from the Lord is sharper than a two-edged sword and pares away our complacency like a butcher's knife. A word from the Lord is news; it changes things and forces us to adjust to the change. Worship has two conflicting aims. What we say most often is that worship is supposed to bring us into the presence of God. Yes, that's true. We want God, we want a word from the Lord, we want news of God's presence. But it is also true that worship also shields and protects us from God.

So Jesus preached for the hometown folks in Nazareth, and at first they received what he said as just a sermon. Nobody got tense. No ushers tried to muscle him into the street. People smiled and said how proud they were and how Mary and Joseph must be popping their buttons to have a son so fine. Danger of being the hometown kid. We know him...he’s one of us. He’s ours. And Jesus gets into it with them. Notice that Jesus starts the fight.

We kind of don’t get the impact of what he’s saying. I’m sure there were plenty of lepers in Israel. But God healed a leper in Syria. The more things change the more they stay the same. How are relations now between Syria and Israel? Bingo! Likewise Sidon. Lebanese. .

Imagine what it would be like. Jesus has a special message he wants to give to the United States. At 6:00pm tomorrow. Just for us. Channels 4, 5, 7, NPR, CNN...even Fox. Wow! Just for us? Jesus has words for us! He’s our boy! God bless him. He starts out with some wide words. Our agenda for poor, healthcare (blind, hungry, prisoners.) Then...in good state of the union form he trucks out the personal examples. “Let me introduce you to people of great faith...I’ve never found the like anywhere. Let me introduce you to Mohammed El Fasir...he lives in Iran and is janitor in his local mosque. This man prays without ceasing...every breath. Wow! Let me introduce you to Helmut Scmickelheim from Hamburg Germany, takes care of his aging mom. Mufasa Dereige from Dafur, helps feed people in refuge camp. What stellar pillars. If you could be more like them.”

What? You’re talking to us Jesus. You wanted to talk to us. Couldn’t you find someone from Kansas or Utah? Do you see what he did to those people in Nazareth? He cut the leash...the leash they had on him...and shocked them out of their complacent world. And they wanted to kill him for it.

Do we WANT to hear a word from God? And what IF he said something? Oh no! I have tickets for a movie this afternoon! Toss away the keys to the Lexus, and head off on some mission for God? The bible is FULL of people who heard the word and REALLY didn’t like what they heard. Jonah is just one...Go to Ninevah. Preach...tell them to repent. Ninevah the arch enemy. Think...it might not even be that Jonah didn’t want to GO to Ninevah. I think his problem was he realised they might just listen...might just repent. Get blasted by God...yeah...get saved...no way! So he heads the other way. Of course...can’t run can he. Storm, water Whale...you know the story.

We want a sermon, but as for a word from the Lord?

Well . . . What’s your Ninevah? It doesn’t have to be huge and a once in a lifetime thing...God is whispering into our ears all the time. There’s an elderly woman who wants to go to church...hey...stop by and pick her up. See that young man over there all dressed in black. Fish net shirt. Metal objects stuck just into his skin about everywhere you can imagine and places you don’t want to. Go say hi. He might be lonely. Just crying inside for someone to care.

It doesn’t have to huge. God is alive and present to us this day - as alive and present as Jesus was to that little flock in Nazareth. God comes close. God speaks words that become real in our hearing. Words that give us life and hope and joy. Words that, if we listen and respond, send us out into the world with God in our hearts.

Today this word comes alive in your life. Today this God draws near to us, and there is a word from the Lord! Will we listen?

Amen,
Pastor Howell