Sabbath

 

This is Oak Island Lighthouse from our vacation last year.  Do you take time to rejuvenate your energy?  Even if it's not a vacation in another state, how do you find your Sabbath? It's important, and not at all selfish.  Accept Sabbath - it's a gift from God.

Daredevil Duck, Part 5

This is part of a series of posts that are a sermon I preached at Milton United Methodist Church on July 25.  The sermon was based on Ephesians 3:14-21 and John 6: 1-21.  

Think back to the story of the Daredevil Duck.  What motivated him to step out – even in fear?  The idea of helping someone else.  And doing that changed him into a real Daredevil – his fear was overcome.

Douglas John Hall, as he was writing about the miracle of Jesus walking on the water, says, “What is truly awe-inspiring is not that someone could walk on the surface of water without sinking, but that his presence among, ordinary, insecure, and timid persons could calm their anxieties and cause them to walk where they feared to walk before -  in the end, all the way to their own Golgothas.”

Think back to that church meeting one more time.  How would the outcome be different if we remembered three things:

1. That Jesus asks us, every day – How will you feed my people?  This is our purpose as a church.  This is our call as disciples.
2. That we have everything we need.  We have each other and we have God in our lives.  Our lives and our churches are full of abundant blessings, if we would only see them.
3. That we do not need to be afraid.  Jesus is the I AM, and in him a new miracle happens every day – we step out of the boat and leave our fear behind.

How would we be changed if we remembered our call as disciples, if we saw the abundance around us and stopped being afraid? How would we be changed if we would just climb out on the branch, like Daredevil Duck did, and help someone else?  How would the world be changed if we stepped out of the boat and walked on the water?

My prayer for you comes from Ephesians: I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.  Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Daredevil Duck, Part 4

This is part of a series of posts that are a sermon I preached at Milton United Methodist Church on July 25.  The sermon was based on Ephesians 3:14-21 and John 6: 1-21.  

In the story of the feeding of the 5000, after everyone was fed, Jesus sends the disciples out to gather the leftovers – 12 baskets full.  Jesus says to his disciples, and he says to us, “You have a call to feed God’s children.  You have each other. You have me. You have everything you need.  See the evidence? 12 baskets of leftovers.  You will not run out.  You do not need to be afraid.”

In the John passage, the people saw even more signs in what happened – who wouldn’t? – and Jesus realized that they were going to come and take him to make him a king, so he stepped away and withdrew to the mountain by himself.  The disciples went down to the sea and got on a boat, and started across the sea.  Darkness fell, and storm rose up.  They were afraid, and Jesus wasn’t with them – but they looked out across the sea, and they saw him walking on the water toward them.  At this point, they were terrified, but Jesus said, “It is I – do not be afraid.”

That was more than just Jesus telling them who was walking on the water.  This was more than him saying, “No worries – it’s me!”  What he said was an I AM statement.  Jesus was using the name of God.  Jesus was telling them that God was with them.  Do not be afraid.  

Part of what Jeff and I do at the Foundation is to meet with donors and help to match their call to give with the best way to make the gift.  One day a few years ago, we met with a woman who had been abused as a child and as a young person and has continued to suffer from mental illness.  I think she lives her life in fear.  She joined a United Methodist church in West Virginia – and there she has found acceptance.  Family.  After she retired, she met with her pastor to talk about what she wanted to do – create a way that she can help people who have had experiences similar to hers.  Her pastor arranged for Jeff and I to meet with her.  She decided to create an endowment to benefit her church.  The income is to be used to fund ministry from the church to help those who are experiencing mental illness.  Each month, she sends what I consider a large gift from her retirement income to the Foundation to add to the endowment.  She lives in fear, but she knows the love of the church and the love of God, so she can’t help but see the abundance of what she has and to be generous.  She might be the bravest woman I know, even in the midst of fear.

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