35) Shrek-hétvége

Bentlakásos iskola révén minden félévben van egy színdarab, ami az egész iskola produkciója. Alapvetően színvonalas darabokat sikerült választani az elmúlt években, tavaly a Hegedűs a háztetőn volt, előtte ÓZ, ill. emlékszem még többek között 2002-ből a Száll a kakukk fészkére, ill. 2003-ból a 80 nap alatt a föld körülre.
Idén a Shrek musical volt terítéken, kb. százan (!) vettek részt az egész produkcióban.

Összességében jól sikerült, kifejezetten találó szereplőválasztások, szuper kosztümök, a szombat esti előadás energiaszintje pedig tényleg elég magasan volt. Az tény, hogy nem mindenki top énekes, de van néhány jó hang (pl. kislány Fiona, ill. Sri, a sárkány!), ill. az egész üzenete önmagunk elfogadásáról (ha ogre vagyok, akkor ogreként lehet engem szeretni...) nem volt rossz.
Itt a két főszereplő a rendezővel: Omeir és Aydn 11.-es srácok, Robert pedig a drámatanárunk Montanából.

További képeket a FB-ről nézhettek, ill. az egész előadás videója is elérhető.

Vasárnap én prédikáltam a templomban, és szintén ezzel a témával kereteztem az igehirdetést. Hallgassátok meg a dalt, és olvassátok a prédikációt:

KIS Church, 4 November 2018

Gospel: Mark 12:28-34

One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” ²⁹ Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; ³⁰ you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ ³¹ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” ³² Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’; ³³ and ‘to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself,’—this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” ³⁴ When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that no one dared to ask him any question.

Epistle: Hebrews 9:11-14

But when Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation), ¹² he entered once for all into the Holy Place, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. ¹³ For if the blood of goats and bulls, with the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer, sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is purified, ¹⁴ how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God!

OT: Deuteronomium 6:1-9

Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the ordinances—that the Lord your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, ² so that you and your children and your children’s children may fear the Lord your God all the days of your life, and keep all his decrees and his commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be long. ³ Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so that it may go well with you, and so that you may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you.⁴ Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. ⁵ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. ⁶ Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. ⁷ Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. ⁸ Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emble^m on your forehead, ⁹ and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Psalm 46 (RH 780).

Hymns: RH 110 (Mighty Fortress Is Our God) for opening

RH 170 (O How I Love Jesus) after the sermon

RH 618 (Let Us Break Bread Together) for communion

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ!

Last night or this weekend we all had a chance to watch SHREK the musical. (if you haven’t, there is a last show this afternoon at 2pm) Do you remember the finale song? It goes like this:

Shrek – Neil Diamond song: I’m a Believer

I thought love was only true in fairy tales
Meant for someone else but not for me
Love was out to get me
That's the way it seemed
Disappointment haunted all of my dreams

Then I saw her face, now I'm a believer
Not a trace, of doubt in my mind
I'm in love, and I'm a believer
I couldn't leave her if I tried

I thought love was more or less a giving thing
The more I gave the less I got oh yeah (…)

Today I would like to talk about LOVE.

Of course I know that this Shrek story is about (mostly) romantic love, but let me widen the picture a little bit for you this morning.

The original language of the NT is Greek, and in this language there is 3 words for expressing love.

One is eros when you really love someone with romantic extras, that’s what we have between Shrek and Fiona J

The other is filia which is for friends and colleagues, a good example is between Donkey and Shrek.

And the third one is agape which we actually did not see in the musical, but today we heard about it from both the OT and NT. This is how only God can love us. This is not even mutual, since we are unable to agape God back. This is the form of love God can come to us. Let me elaborate on that today.

When we sing it in the Neil Diamond song, that: I thought love was more or less a giving thing; the more I gave the less I got oh yeah… there is something about this need. If love was a giving thing, and you would lose it if you gave more, then something is not right… That’s the beautiful thing about love that it is not becoming less if I give more… never ever. It has its way to refill while giving. So, even we can experience it at times how wonderful love is between friends and lovers, but let me tell you, God’s love is even much bigger and more. This is what we had heard in our scripture readings today.

The OT passage from Deut quoted the Shema which is the most essential part of Jewish tradition, the orthodox Jews still have it in their homes on the doorpost (mezuza), and on their arms and forehead (tefillin): Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.

The first sentence is a confession/a statement of faith, the second one is a reaction. We love God because he had first loved us. God has given so many things to his people and that is what is required from the people: love God with all heart/soul/mind. All three are important.

And then the writer of Deuteronomium asks us to pass it on. Actually the listeners are asked 4 different things: keep these words, recite them to their children, bind them on themselves and write them on their doorposts. Let me pick the RECITE tem… “Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.” – I think it means that we have to pass this on. To our children, to our students, to those who are not that far ahead in their relationship with God, to those who are still searching. This is the good news to everybody that we have a God who had loved us before we could even think about loving him.

This is the God who does not need sacrifices any more. As you heard from our Hebrews-passage today, there was always a high priest who was allowed to go into the Holy of Holies of the temple once a year and offer a sacrifice of a lamb for the redemption of the whole nation. But we do not need to do this any more since we have had a perfect Lamb. And this perfect Lamb is called Jesus. He was the one who had become the perfect Lamb as we read: But when Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation), he entered once for all into the Holy Place, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. This is the good news, dear brothers and sisters. This had been the good news for the disciples of Jesus, for the early Christians, for those who had started the reformation in the 16^th century, and even for us today: Christ came as a high priest and there is no need for repeating sacrifice because he had done it once for all.

As I mention the reformation, let me remind you that this week we had the so-called Reformation Day. Some people call October 31^st Halloween, but today I would like to remember it as the 501^st anniversary of the day when a German monk, Martin Luther had published his 95 theses to renew the church, to go against indulgances (which is to buy your salvation for money), to search for spirituality, and look for the original sources of the discipleship in Jesus. Let me ask you today: what would you write if you were asked what kind of new ideas does the church need today? I don’t do papers and nails and hammer and door, but I to take suggestions right here from the floor. Or – let’s really do 21^st century guys – you can post it on my FB wall if you don’t want to say it out loud. I do encourage you to think of at least one thing that would be great for the renewal of the church today.

Martin Luther who started this, was not a saint. He was not a half-god. He was a person who could be used by God to give back the original meaning of Christianity. He was someone who loved Jesus. He was someone who told others that they can love Jesus as well. And don’t forget as we had said earlier: because Jesus loved us before…

This is my good news today to everybody. To all my neighbours. As we read in the gospel text today. Love my neighbours as myself. Both are important. Some of my CT class students said: I have to love others more than myself… I don’t think so… Some said: I have to love myself more than others… I don’t think so… both are equally important. Not always just give… not always just be altruistic and forget about the wellbeing of yourself. And definitely not just think that others are not important… We also have to maintain our own spiritual relationship with God and take care of our spiritual wellbeing as well. Let me use a well-known example and you’ll understand what I’m talking about. Most of you have travelled by plane, and during your several air journeys, you would have frequently heard this announcement from the cabin crew: In case of a loss of cabin pressure, oxygen masks above your seat will deploy, please place the mask first and then assist your child or other passengers.” Why do airlines announce like this? It sounds funny and crazy right. For everything we say children first. But here, why do we put them as second. I know it is an impossible choice but it is not really a choice. It’s about responsible and sensible thinking of how you could take care of your loved ones. Would it do any good to your child if you had the opportunity to save both of you but you sacrificed yourself for actually no reason… I don’t think so… I know it is tricky and I don’t want to oversimplify it, but I think I know what the airlines mean when they say this announcement. It’s about love your neighbour as yourself. It is about loving the people around you with the realization of the responsibility you also have for them. And it’s the same with Christians.

I as a pastor can only talk about Christ if I have already experienced what a great gift it is to know him. This is my duty to pass it on. This is the good news I have to tell you. But I can tell you only if I know what I’m talking about. And allow me tell you today that I know Christ. I know him and I love him. I know how great he can be if we let him into our lives. I know how compassionate he can be to everybody… to those who have lost loved ones recently…

o   I’m thinking of our Math teacher, Ms. JS who has lost her husband this week who was a father to alumni N and J.

o   I’m thinking of a father from P who also passed away, and two of his sons mourn for him.

o   I’m thinking of Mr.R and Ms K as they lost a loved friend and colleague from T also this week

Jesus can be compassionate to all of you. Because he does know what suffering is. He understands what pain is. He knows from experience what death is!

And the good news is: he has conquered the grave! He has conquered death! He had not stayed on the cross, he had not stayed in the tomb, he has resurrected! His love is stronger than death! His love (his agape) is greater than we can imagine!

That is now only Christ can give us salvation. SOLUS CHRISTUS as the reformators said. No one else. Not the saints, not the pope, not Mary, not Martin Luther, only Christ!

And it is not something you can buy: it is only by grace, only by God’s grace – SOLA GRATIA.

And it is not something we can work towards… it is not something we can earn by our good deeds. It is not something we can get for ourselves by just being good and doing good. It is by faith alone. SOLA FIDE. And of course once we have received the gift of faith from God, then the fruits or the consequences of our faith can be good deeds and all, but not the other way around.

And SOLA SCRIPTURA is our last reformation-idea that we do not need anything else to get to know Christ, the Bible is enough. It is enough for our salvation. By Scripture only we are able to know Christ.

And the main message of the Bible is that God loves us. God loves us with his agape. God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. This sentence contains all the 4 solas. God accepts us as we are. God accepts us and loves us, and he want us to accept ourselves and love ourselves as well. Just as we are.

Last night Fiona took her real form. She was an ogre. And she was loved. How much more can we be loved by God in our real form. Sometimes we don’t think that anyone could love us since we are ugly and fat and short and hairy and… but God loves us. And he believes in us. This is what Mr. Robert asked us before the show to say to our children and to our students and to our friends: I believe in you. I think this morning God is the one who whispers it to each of our ears. I think it’s actually God who sings the chorus of Neil Diamond’s song from the Shrek-finale along with us:

Then I saw her face, now I'm a believer
Not a trace, of doubt in my mind
I'm in love, and I'm a believer
I couldn't leave her if I tried

 Amen.