Sermon - The Way, Part 5

 Each Sunday, we share a Breakthrough Prayer together.  This is a time when we invite God, through prayer, to mold and shape us as a church.  That prayer is printed in your bulletin – take it home with you and pray that prayer this week. As a community, as a church, let’s pray together.

We hear this passage from Acts, and maybe we long for God to add to our church day by day, but an increase in members is a symptom of a church that is on the way, following God. Increases in membership is not the goal – the goal is to be open to the leading of God and to be reshaped into the church God intends us to be. If we can do that – through opening ourselves up to the means of grace God offers through study, fellowship, communion, and prayer – then I believe we will find “success” in God’s eyes as a church.

Everyday, our church community makes decisions – will we follow God and allow God to reshape us or will we resist the work of the Potter?  Sometimes, as I mentioned before, there are watershed moments when the community faces choices that have a profound impact on its future life.  I can imagine for this church that when we decided, as a church, in 1844, to be a Methodist Episcopal Church, South in support of slavery, that the decision was a watershed moment.  One for which we should repent. Who knows what damage was done to God’s children as a result of that decision.

In July of 2015, our church voted by an overwhelming margin to become a Reconciling Ministries Church, stating out loud that our doors are open to everyone.  I think that was a watershed moment for us. I hope it has brought grace and hope to many.

In 1927, Fairlawn Community Methodist Episcopal Church laid a cornerstone that, along with bulletins and buffalo nickels, held hate and racism. I’m grateful that when the church closed, the misshapen clay was not hidden, but reshaped into repentance. I’m grateful that around $400,000 was added to the In Our Time Fund at their Foundation to work for racial justice. It seems to me to be a fitting turning back to The Way.

What will our next watershed moment be? I don’t know. Maybe it will be something huge, like our alignment as a denomination was in the 1844. Or maybe it will be opening our doors and our hearts to one person – one person who needs the grace of God who we can help.

May we clear the way to be clay that can be shaped by God into the church we should become.

Sermon - The Way, Part 4

 Hear these words from Acts 2:42-47 about the early Christian Church.

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.  Awe came upon everyone because many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds[a] to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

This passage provides us with a beautiful image of the early church – a church that saw wonders and signs, that believed together and had all things in common, including their possessions. They gave to those who had need, they worshipped together, and they praised God.  And day by Day the Lord added to their number.  This community was referred to as men and women of The Way.

But how did they get there?  And how can we use that as a model to become pliable clay in the potter’s hands as a church?  What is the way we should live in order to be the church God plans for us to be?

Let’s look at verse 42 again. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

First, they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teachings – I think we could see a parallel in our life in the church when study the Word of God.  Maybe we read devotionally at home, we attend Sunday school, Book Study on Mondays, the Reconciling Ministries study on Wednesdays, Great Decisions in its season. We hear the proclamation of the word on Sunday mornings.  In all of these ways and more, we learn about the apostles’ teachings, and hopefully, as a church, we allow the word to guide what we do, together.  We learn the way we should go.

Secondly, they experienced fellowship.  Gail Neal Hansen says, “A mark of authenticity and vitality in a congregation is the quality of peoples’ relationships and their efforts to include others in those relationships.”  How do we do that? It’s more than feeling that we are a friendly church – truthfully, those who haven’t found us to be friendly are probably not here anymore.  How do we offer radical hospitality? Greeters are a start – when someone comes in our doors on Sunday morning, a church volunteer says hello and directs them to worship. Works to make everyone feel welcome.  We can reach out before and after worship to those we do not know.  But there are more ways.  Maybe when we hand out water on hot days on the sidewalk – talk to Debbie McGinnis if you want to volunteer. Radical hospitality is providing children with food in a backpack for the weekend – hospitality is not just a welcome into the church building, it’s a welcome into community.  You are hungry, and we have noticed.  The church in fellowship is working outside the walls to make a difference.  What more can we do? Where is God leading us?

Thirdly, by breaking of the bread.  I think this is an obvious communion reference, and when we next share the bread and juice, I hope you will remember that this is part of how we prepare ourselves for transformation – it is a means of grace offered by God. But how else do we break bread together? When people come into the church on Thursday evening to share a meal during Common Grounds, we are breaking bread with the community. When we bring food for the Thanksgiving harvest altar, or donate the food of the month (tuna this month) to Cridlin Food and Clothing Closet, we are breaking bread together.  But if we as a church on are The Way together, who else should we break bread with?

Sermon - The Way, Part 3

This is an image to help Jeremiah understand that Israel is in God’s hands. This is a communal passage, not an individual one.  I don’t think this is about God, the potter, reshaping you and me as individuals, but God the potter in action in the community – and for us, I would say, God will be acting within our church communities.

If we think about Wellspring United Methodist Church again, I think the action of the Annual Conference in turning the assets of the closed church into something redemptive is evidence of God at work in this community. From 1927 until 2020, the church in New England had been remolded and transformed so that they felt a need to correct what the 1927 church had done. God’s reshaping work.

Sally Brown, in Feasting on the Word, says, “Jeremiah here is addressing primarily the life of the community, not the individual.  God means to shape the community of faith in its collective social, religious and political life to serve divine purposes.”  She goes on to describe three characteristics of God the potter.  First, God is invested in all common life – the potter has a purpose in what he is doing.  Secondly, the relationship between the potter and the community is robustly dynamic. The clay can resist the hand of the potter. The clay – the community – does not have to be reshaped. Thirdly, there are moments when the pot is removed from the wheel because the future shape is set – in other words, there are watershed moments when the community faces choices that have a profound impact on its future life.  We’re going to come back to that thought.

Have you ever held a piece of clay or even playdough and just shaped and reshaped it randomly? Just for the feel of it or out of boredom? That’s not what this is. This is God working within the community to shape it into the potential it has. As Wesleyan Christians, we often talk about “moving onto perfection” as an individual – being sanctified by God’s grace into who we were meant to be. That’s what this is – but it is sanctification for the community – for the church.  It’s God molding the church into what it was meant to be.

And what is that?  What image can we use to understand that? And how can we prepare for God’s work rather than resist it?

The Way - Part 2

Let’s start with the passage Jeremiah 18-1-11.

18 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ² “Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” ³ So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. ⁴ The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.

 

⁵ Then the word of the Lord came to me: ⁶ Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. ⁷ At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, ⁸ but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it. ⁹ And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, ¹⁰ but if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will change my mind about the good that I had intended to do to it. ¹¹ Now, therefore, say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus says the Lord: Look, I am a potter shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, all of you, from your evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.

I think in order to explore it best, it’s good to understand the background against which it was written.  The writings we call Jeremiah were written during a time of political unrest. The book strives to come to terms with the destruction and exile of Judah in 597-582 BCE. In 597, Judah revolted against Babylon and provoked the first of three invasions and deportations.  Jerusalem, the city walls, the king’s palace, and the temple were all destroyed, as were the lives of many. 

It was turmoil. Imagine the questions that haunted the people who were exiled or who remained.  Had God forgotten his people? How could God allow this devastation? Had God turned away from the covenant? Was God less powerful than the gods of Babylon? How could the community survive?

In Chapter 18 God calls Jeremiah to the Potter’s House to watch the potter work.  I think when we hear or read this passage, we often think of how God shapes our lives. We hear about the potter being displeased with his work, reworking it into something that is pleasing to him, and we think about ourselves.  Is God pleased with us? Is God going to act as a potter in our lives, mashing the clay together and reshaping something more pleasing?

Can we set that interpretation aside for a bit?  Pay attention to verses 5 and 6: “Then the word of the Lord came to me: “Can I not do with you, O House of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.”

This is an image to help Jeremiah understand that Israel is in God’s hands. This is a communal passage, not an individual one.  I don’t think this is about God, the potter, reshaping you and me as individuals, but God the potter in action in the community – and for us, I would say, God will be acting within our church communities.

The Way - Part 1

The next few posts will be a sermon I preached late this summer.

On January 16, 1927 – less than 100 years ago – a church in Shrewsberry, Massachusetts, named Fairlawn Community Methodist Episcopal Church, laid a cornerstone.  In it, they stored items that were important to their church’s story.

Decades later, after the church had become Wellspring Community UMC, they were preparing to move to a new building. They dug up the cornerstone to move it to the new location, and they discovered what was inside the “time capsule” of the cornerstone.  Most of the contents was what you might expect: Conference Journals, some 1926 change, including a buffalo nickel, newspaper articles, bulletins, and list of the founding members.  Along with these expected items were multiple pamphlets and magazine published by the Ku Klux Klan.

The church decided to keep the information about their discovery to themselves.

In 2020, the Wellspring Community UMC members voted to close the church. In July of that year, their District Superintendent was gathering information from the church for the Conference Archives and found the contents of the cornerstone. She told Bishop Sudarshana Devadhar, who later said, “Fighting racism requires truth telling, confession, and repentance from us all.  We lift up this church’s history not to shame them, but as a lesson for all of us in the importance of facing the past and reconciling with it. We must start by understanding our past; that is the only way we can hope to create a present where there is true racial justice.”

A resolution was passed at the 2020 New England Annual Conference to close the church and to place the assets of the church in a fund at the United Methodist Foundation of New England called the In Our Time Fund.  The purpose of the fund is to support and sustain anti-racism work.  In addition, a project called “Cornerstone: Claiming our past, building a better future” was established and led by the former church’s district to focus on racial justice and repentance.

I tell you this story because today I want to focus on how God works with and through churches like Wellspring United Methodist Church, the New England Annual Conference, and our church to bring about transformation in the world.

Gone Fishing, Part 3

 But we can’t forget Simon Peter – one of my favorite disciples.  Hear these words from John 21:15-19.

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.”  A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.”  He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.  Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.”  (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”

Earlier in worship today, we read from John, chapter 18.  I wanted us to pause and remember what Peter had experienced as Jesus was being tried, convicted, and tortured.  At the Passover supper, Jesus told Peter that he would deny him three times before the rooster crowed.  And, as we heard today, that is exactly what happened. 

Peter is a leader of the disciples.  Does he lead? No. He takes them back to unsuccessful fishing. Why is that?

Earlier in the passage we are reading, when Peter realizes Jesus is on the shore, he puts on his clothes and jumps into the water to swim to shore.  Now I know that at this time in history, fishermen often worked only in a loin cloth, and to go to the teacher undressed would have not shown proper respect, but I can’t help but be reminded of Adam and Eve, in the Genesis story. After they eat of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they know that they have sinned. They hear God looking for them, and they hide, because they are ashamed of their sinfulness and of their nakedness. I think Peter, who dresses before diving into the water, feels the same way.

Sometimes the scarcity we focus on isn’t what we do not have – it is who we are. Sometimes we focus only on our sin, our fears, our shame. This is where Simon Peter was that morning. He knew he had betrayed the teacher and friend he loved, and this betrayal is all he can see. Jesus pulls Simon Peter aside after breakfast, and changes his viewpoint and his life, once again. 

Peter, do you love me? Peter, do you love me? Peter, do you love me?  Three times. Three betrayals, three questions, until, finally, Peter can move forward, and feed Jesus’ sheep. Jesus is connecting the love Simon Peter feels toward him into action – love “my sheep” as you love me. 

Several years ago, Jeff Taylor, the president of the Foundation, and I met with a potential donor named Linda.  She died last month, but she left a legacy for her church and for those her church reaches who suffer from mental illness. Following our meeting with her, Linda created a Mental Wellness trust at the Foundation.  She shared (and she asked that the information I’m sharing with you be shared at her funeral) that her family fostered negativity, and that she suffered from mental illness and abuse throughout her life.  She eventually joined a United Methodist church in her community.  They took her in, loved her, and taught her that she is loved by God, and is a beloved child.  She wrote in the preamble to her trust, “I do know that God loves me, and I have been nourished and sustained by God’s grace.  My prayer is that my gift can provide hope to suffering folks who feel at the end of their rope.  May the Lord bless others through me…Just as the Lord loves me, God will love all of my brothers and sisters who whom this trust can provide light and hope.”

Because of the church, Linda experienced abundant love. She gave each month, generously, to the trust she built, and what she has created what will be a beacon of light and hope for others. She gave every month, even though she always lived in the fear of not having enough.  Her love was bigger than her fear, and so she followed Christ.

This chapter in John, often thought of as an epilogue to the gospel, reminds us to turn our eyes to Jesus, instead of to what we do not have – instead of only seeing our fear. The gospel story is not a story of what happened – but a story of what can happen when we follow the Christ. Thomas Troeger writes, “The epilogue affirms, through its story of the risen Christ on the shore of the Sea of Tiberius, what the prologue (of John) affirms as the story of Christ’s early ministry begins: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” The epilogue awakens memories of the darkness – the darkness of our hunger, the darkness of our failure to recognize Christ, the darkness of our denial, but at the same time it reminds us that none of this darkness has overcome the light.  For the risen Christ still calls, still feeds, still empowers even doubters and deniers for the ministry.”

Where do you, either as a person or as a church, focus so much on scarcity that you cannot see Christ? Cannot follow? Cannot feed the Lord’s sheep?

And what are you going to do about it? It’s time to stop fishing so that you can fish for people.

Gone Fishing, Part 2

 Hear these words from John 21: 5-14

Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.”  He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish.  That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he had taken it off, and jumped into the sea.  But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.

When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread.  Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.”  So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them, and though there were so many, the net was not torn.  Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord.  Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them and did the same with the fish.  This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Think about the beginning of this passage – disciples are in the boat, having caught nothing – and Jesus tells them to cast the net to the other side of the boat.  Does that story remind you of anything?

In  Luke, chapter 5, Jesus tells Simon to cast his nets in deep water. Simon protests – he has caught nothing all night, and he is a fisherman – he knows how to fish – but he does what Jesus asks.  You know the rest of the story – they caught an abundance of fish, straining the nets and even the ability of the boats to float.  This is the call story for Simon, James, and John. Jesus tells them, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.”  They follow Jesus and becomes fishers of people.

Maybe this is why Jesus is standing on the shore of the Sea of Tiberius on this morning a week or so after the resurrection.  In Luke, it is called the Lake of Gennesaret – we also know it as the Sea of Galilee. They are literally fishing in the same place where they started, and they have the same problem. They are unable to catch fish – again. Maybe this is why Jesus has shown himself – as it says in verse 1 – to them again. When they see all the fish they have caught, when they see him, when they hear him, then they actually recognize him, and they know who is standing on the shore. With them, once again.  They are reminded of their call, and they finally respond to it again, and move toward Jesus so that they can follow him.

And on the shore, they have a meal. Does that meal remind you of anything from scripture? Every gospel has a story of the feeding of the 5000, including John. Our story today, found at the end of John, and the Feeding of the 5000 stories are all about abundance. There is bread and fish, so we have the same menu – but much more importantly than that, we, and the disciples, are taught that with Jesus comes abundance. With Jesus comes more gifts than we can imagine. With Jesus, we no longer focus on the scarcity – on what we do not have - but when Jesus is around, we see something entirely different.

And because this is a eucharistic meal – a meal to remind them that Jesus is always with them – he asks them to go get some of the fish they caught. He already has some fish cooking on the fire, but he wants them to contribute.  Simon Peter jumps back into the boat and hauls the net ashore. Interestingly, to me, the net is different from the one in Luke.  In Luke, during the original call story, the nets were beginning to break.  In the story we are reading today, the net has a HUGE number of fish in it, but the net is not torn. It is whole, and it is completely capable of holding this abundance.

There is a message in this part of the story for us, the Church.  When we see Jesus, when we are reminded of our call, we are able to BE the church. When we stop focusing on what we no longer have – what we might have lost – what we used to be, and instead, focus on Jesus, we will see the abundant gifts we have been given, and we will be able to fulfil our mission. We don’t need to worry – our nets are strong enough and large enough to hold everyone.

One church that I am familiar with lost half of its members and its pastor – all of a sudden. Imagine that. Half of the church’s leaders, half of their children, half of their workers, half of their donors – gone in a day. I think that church could have been forgiven for closing up shop and hanging up a sign that said, “Gone fishing.”  But that is not what they did. They have decided to keep working – to keep following Christ – and to reach out to the community in love. I know their story because they applied for a Foundation Grant to help fund a backpack ministry to a nearby school. They lost half their backpack volunteers, half their church-provided backpack funding, plus they lost the funding provided by the school system for their program.  Did they stop feeding children on the weekends? No. They are following Christ and moving forward as a church.

This is who we can be when we see the world with Christ’s eyes for abundance.

Gone Fishing, Part 1

The following post is the first part of a sermon I preached at the beginning of May.  Some of it may sound familiar because I used it as the basis of a devotional I posted a few days ago.  

Our main gospel reading this morning is from the Gospel of John – chapter 21, verses 1-19.  This is the last chapter of John.  Mary Magdalene has already been to the tomb, Jesus has spoken to her, telling her that he will be ascending to God. She has gone to the disciples and to announce that “she has seen the Lord.”

On the evening of the same day, the Disciples were locked in a house, afraid of what might happen, when Jesus appeared to them.  A week later, Jesus appeared again to the Disciples, this time including Thomas.

THEN we get to this last chapter of John.  It’s a long passage, so I prepared the sermon a little differently than I usually do. Instead of reading the entire passage at once, we’ll look at it in three parts – reading a portion and talking about it. 

Hear these words from John 21: 1-4

After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he showed himself in this way.  Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin,  Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples.  Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach, but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.

Can you imagine this scene? Seven of the disciples are gathered together on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias.  Peter, probably at a loss of what to do, says, “I’m going fishing.”  He going back to what he was before he met Jesus – a fisherman. The other six who were with him join him on the boat. And they are completely unsuccessful. They catch nothing.

Can you imagine how they felt? Their teacher and their friend had died. Yes, they had seen him resurrected, but apparently that realization hasn’t yet taken hold of them.  They are grieving; they don’t know what to do without Jesus. Some of the commentaries I read suggested that the disciples had abandoned Jesus – that they were aimless and without purpose. All they can see is his absence.

Have you ever experienced that? Have you ever been so tired and scared that all you can see is what you no longer have? Have you experienced the paralysis that comes with that feeling?

Churches sometimes find themselves in that time of loss. I’ve been part of planning sessions in a church where the conversation always turns to what used to be. “I remember when we had to put chairs in the aisles for all of the people who came to worship.” Or “It used to be that the pastor would visit every new person in town when they arrived – he got the list from the gas company when they visited to turn on the heat in the new neighbors’ house.”  What’s frustrating about those conversations is that we don’t talk about the present – the now – we just fondly remember what used to be, and what we no longer have. We view the world with eyes of scarcity. And we can’t catch any fish at all.

One church, when faced with the worries about General Conference and disaffiliation, decided that they longer wanted to reach out to the community. They stayed in their church; the only ministry they undertook was with each other, within their walls.  It was another way to only see with eyes of scarcity.

And – to emphasize the point - what happened when the disciples went fishing? Nothing. They caught not a single fish. Even beyond that, as Jesus, standing on the shore, began to speak with them, they didn’t even recognize him.

Sometimes we are so focused on what we do not have, that we are blind to what gifts and abundance we do have. 

In the Footsteps of Bezalel, Part 2

This and yesterday's post are from a sermon I preached last Sunday.

Stephanie invited me to come and share thoughts with you today about your theme for the next few weeks: Cultivating a generous heart and lifestyle.  Specifically, my part of the series is “the gifts of knowledge and skill.” 

We talk a lot in the church about spiritual gifts – Spiritual gifts are given by God to the church to be used in service.  Examples include faith, mercy, prophecy, discernment, and teaching – that’s just a small sample.  But spiritual gifts are little bit different than knowledge and skills.  Bezalel’s skills include metal work and design.  His knew how to build – what tools to use, and what would work and wouldn’t work.  I don’t want to get too hung up on the differences, except to say that we can work to increase our knowledge, and we can enhance our skills through practice. Spiritual gifts are a little bit different – they are a gift – not earned, not inherited, not gained through study, not passed down from our grandparents.  But I hope we can all agree that we are called not only to use our spiritual gifts, but also our knowledge and skills, in the work of God’s kingdom, and when we can, we are expected to build and enhance that knowledge and skills so that we can share them generously with each other.

So, what happens when we do?

Hear these words from Romans 12:1-8:

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, on the basis of God’s mercy, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable act of worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the encourager, in encouragement; the giver, in sincerity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

The book of Romans was most likely written by Paul in Corinth in 57 CE, as he prepared to return to Jerusalem.  I think the history of what was happening in Rome and the Christian church there is interesting.  The Christian Church in Rome was probably started by Jewish converts from Pentecost.  They weren’t a passive group, and in eventually, Claudius (the roman emperor) expelled the Jews from Rome.  When Claudius died, the edict the expelled the Jews died with him, the Jews returned.  They found the Christian church the had left in Rome was now very gentile in nature.  You can imagine the conflicts in this divided church.  Paul wrote the book of Romans to this church in the height of the tension.  He wrote to declare the reconciling nature of the gospel and of the power of salvation for both the Jews and the Gentiles.  

A church in conflict.  Hmmm.  Maybe we can find some parallels.

Paul calls on the members of the Roman church to offer themselves as living sacrifices.  Back when Bezalel was building the tabernacle, God was commanding his people to offer sacrifices – burnt offerings, grain offerings, peace offerings, offerings made with animals – the list is long.  But now, as Paul is writing, atonement has already been made by Jesus.  Paul is calling Christians to offer themselves as living sacrifices. Rochelle Stackhouse, in a commentary I read, said a living sacrifice means that we’re not just offering our emotional or intellectual assent to God – we’re offering everything – “This may mean we need actually to do things that will put us outside the norms of behavior for our society” she wrote.  

I think we hear the definition of living sacrifice most clearly in the Jewish Shema as told by Jesus in Mark: ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; 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.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”  In other words – you are to give all that you are – including your mind - to God and to each other.

And here is the kicker – in the Romans passage, we learn that it requires the whole church.  Paul says, “For as in one body we have many members and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.”

What else? 

In verse 3, Paul cautions the Roman Christians (and us also, I think), not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think.  He is leading us to humility.  

I remember speaking with a pastor once.  He had a small church in a small community; he was loved by his church and he loved them.  All of that was obvious.  That said, pastors are required to do continuing education, and he would not.  He couldn’t see the need for it.  He knew all he needed to know; classes wouldn’t help him.  I don’t mean to judge him, but in this one area, a very humble man thought too highly of himself.

Think of the ways we describe God – omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent.  All powerful, all knowing, and everywhere.  I think when we think we know everything – when we close our minds to being taught – we step a little bit into the role of God.  We are not omni-anything.  Not thinking too highly of ourselves will open us up to not only learn more and practice more, but also to be open to what others can offer us when we share our skills.  When we, in humility, generously offer to the church what we know and what we can do, we open ourselves up to not only do God’s work in the world, but to find God in the world.

Next, verse 2 says, “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

I think this means that we have to approach learning, sharing what we know and what we can do with an open mind.  We can’t always assume that we know best – that we are right.  Even the concept of learning and teaching assumes that we do not know everything – especially, most certainly – we do not know everything about God.  It is beyond us – and it is another reason for humility.  

I think a closed mind cannot be renewed.  A closed mind cannot be transformed.  Do we love being right so much that we would lose the chance to discern the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect?

Years ago, when I was in high school, my youth group traveled to Texas to teach a vacation Bible school in El Paso to the children of immigrant workers.  Of course, adults came with us.  Each pair of youth was matched with an adult from our church.  Chris, my partner, and I, were paired with Coe Marsh.  I thought she was very old – she probably wasn’t, but it felt that way to a 17 year old.  She was definitely a grandmother at the time.  I look back now, and I am so in awe of her.  She and her husband left their homes for 2 weeks to travel with us and to be a part of what we were doing.  She offered what she had with grace and humility.  I watched her, from memory, restate the 23rd Psalm in words a young child could understand so that we could teach it.  She was a living sacrifice.

How can you follow in the footsteps of Bezalel and Coe Marsh?

• If you know how to use a hammer, find a Habitat for Humanity project or a neighbor who needs a ramp built.
• If you know how to teach, find some students.
• If you can bake bread, do it, and feed the hungry.
• If you can pray, start lifting your neighbors up to God.
• If you can create a spreadsheet, there’s a finance committee that needs you.
• If you can encourage, start spreading the good news that everyone is loved by God.
• If you can see the gifts and skills in another person, invite them into ministry.

We are the church, and God is calling all of us – each and every one of us – with open, transformed minds, to share what we have – to build the tabernacle with a generous, humble heart so that the thin places abound – and God is known to all of us.

In the Footsteps of Bezalel, Part 1

This post and the ones following are from a sermon I preached last Sunday.

I want to start today by telling you about an experience I have had over the last three years, but in order for it to make sense, I have to share a few things about myself.  I love to teach – I hope it is a skill I have, or maybe even a spiritual gift. When I take a Spiritual Gift Inventory, it always rises high to the top of the list.  I remember as a kid I always loved to pretend I was teaching school. I had a big chalk board at home, and I would teach dolls how to do math.  But – best of all – was when I could go to school with Mom.  She was a school teacher, and I would go with her to her school the week before my school started and the week after I finished – she had those two weeks when she had to be at her school to prepare for or finish the year.  My favorite thing to do was to write on her chalk board.  Teaching – I love it.  Or maybe I just love writing on chalk boards, but I think its teaching.  

I also love to study. I love to take classes; I enjoyed school.  I love learning new things.  I love teaching new things, and watching people understand them.

In late 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, the laity team and the district directors of lay servant ministry in the conference were trying to solve an problem.  There were people in our Conference who wanted to become Certified Lay Ministers, but there wasn’t an organized way to do that in our conference.  It’s a long process that involves general church curriculum, classes, books to read – it’s not a simple thing to offer.  Some districts had had classes – it takes almost a year to go through all of the classes – but most districts didn’t have enough people to form a class, or the staff to teach them.   So, I said that I would organize a Conference CLM Class.

God must have been very annoyed at me when, after agreeing to organize this program, I procrastinated for months.  Months.  Months in which I argued with myself about how much I didn’t want to do it.  I would find someone else to do it. Yes, I love teaching. Yes, I love studying, but I didn’t want to do this.  It would take too much time; it would be too much trouble. How could I do it when people couldn’t meet together?  I lost sleep.  I argued with God.  And God kept nagging.

And then, I had procrastinated long enough that I had to do it myself – it was too late to ask anyone else to do it.  And I wasn’t wrong – it did take a lot of time.  I had to read a bunch of books just to build the curriculum, and then two or three books a month to stay ahead of the class. It meant monthly Zoom meetings, and multiple recordings to post on Portico.  Especially that first year, it was a ton of work.  

Hear these words about a man named Bezalel in Exodus 31: 1-11.  

The LORD spoke to Moses,  “See, I have called by name Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with a divine spirit,[a] with ability, intelligence, and knowledge, and every kind of skill, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every kind of craft. Moreover, I have appointed with him Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, and I have given skill to all the skillful, so that they may make all that I have commanded you:  the tent of meeting, and the ark of the covenant, and the cover that is on it, and all the furnishings of the tent, the table and its utensils, and the pure lampstand with all its utensils, and the altar of incense, and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin with its stand, and the finely worked vestments, the holy vestments for the priest Aaron and the vestments of his sons, for their service as priests,  and the anointing oil and the fragrant incense for the holy place. They shall do just as I have commanded you.”

Think about what Bezalel and those who worked with him did.  They built the tabernacle – or the tent of the congregation – a portable construction that was the place where Yahweh met with the Israelites.  This is where the people were closest to God.  The builders created the ark that housed the tablets on which were carved what we call the 10 Commandments and the altar upon which sacrifices were made.  The passage tells us that God said, “I have filled him with a divine spirit, with ability, intelligence, and knowledge, and every kind of skill, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every kind of craft.”

God prepared Bezalel with knowledge and skills, and then called him to do this work.  The result is that God and God’s people were brought closer together – as close as could be managed. Bezalel built one of those thin spaces we talk about, where we experience God’s presence in a way that the distance between us is made small and the walls between us are carved away.  Bezalel and his co-workers used their gifts to do God’s work, and the people knew God better. I wonder how that made Bezalel feel?  How his faith was strengthened by it.

I know what happened to me.  I taught the Conference CLM Class, and I continue to teach it. We’re on our third cohort of students.  It has been a lot of work, but my faith has been strengthened by the devotion and faith of my students.  I have learned so much from them.  I am so blessed to know them and to see them do the work they are called to do – in churches, in senior centers, in prisons, with children and the elderly. God has called them, equipped them, and they have gone forth and done God’s work - with a lot less procrastination than me.  I’m so grateful that God nagged me into doing this, because it has been, and continues to be a blessing.

An Adventure with Your Name on it, Part 4

This post is the final post in a series from a sermon.  It began on April 24.

Harkness also says that our faith will lead us on courageous adventures.  Faith means that we are willing to count the cost, and then take the risk anyway.

There was a story told at John Lewis’s funeral that really struck me when I heard it. In the 60’s, John Lewis was a leader in voting rights advocacy. Selma, Alabama is in Dallas County. The population of Dallas County was more than ½ African American, but only 2% of the voter roll was. John Lewis felt a call to open the doors of equality, and one of the ways to do that was to work for voting rights.  On February 18, 1965 in Alabama, rising racial tensions had resulted in bloodshed when state troopers had clubbed protesters in nearby Marion and shot a 26-year old to death. On March 7, John Lewis led what was planned to be a 54-mile march from Selma to the state capitol of Montgomery.  The March began at Brown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, and then crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge – a bridge named after a Confederate General who was also a grand dragon in the Alabama Ku Klux Klan.

 

As he prepared for the march, John Lewis packed a backpack with an apple, an orange, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and two books. He lost the backpack during the march, and he ended up being knocked to the ground by a state trooper and beaten in the head with a nightstick – multiple times – so badly that they fractured his skull.

 

He had packed a backpack because he thought the march would result in his arrest, and that he would end up in jail. In 1963 he had said, “We do not want to go to jail. But we will go to jail if this is the price we must pay for love, brotherhood, and true peace.”  He packed a backpack because he knew the cost – and he marched anyway.

 

God called John Lewis to work for freedom and true peace.  God calls you by name on a courageous adventure, too. Will you move forward, even when you know the cost?

 

Harkness explains that this kind of faith – trusting in God enough to reorder our lives and to move forward on a courageous adventure, aware of the cost, results in an awareness of saving help - an awareness of the power of God at work in our lives.  Let’s go back and visit Courageous Thomas again. In his doubt, what he needed to know is that this resurrected Jesus who can walk into a locked room was actually the Jesus who had died three days before – the Jesus who had taught them, led them, loved them. He needed to see the wounds to know that these were the same person. And what did Jesus do? Jesus provided Thomas with what he needed.  Courageous Thomas left that room not only knowing that the Jesus he had walked with was now resurrected, but also that God would provide what he needed – saving help.

 

Nineteen years ago, Scarlett and Fred Kellerman were at an event at their church – Lewisburg UMC – when the facilitator asked them “What is God calling you to do?”  Scarlet said, “Start a mission project and help people.”  The facilitator asked, “What’s stopping you?”

 

The created Wellspring of Greenbrier. A few months ago, 10 years later, as they were retiring, Scarlet said, “We keep in mind what Jesus asks us to do – to build his kingdom here on earth. Giving food, drink, clothing, freeing those who are imprisoned by addition and poverty. We do this for God and with His help. We could never have done this without the Spirit here.”

 

God calls us by name, and when we step out in faith, reordering our lives in trust, even though we know the cost, God will walk with us, providing what we need, providing saving help.

 

Your name is Beloved. God is calling you on a courageous adventure. On this day that feels like the aftermath of a great party, when Easter is over, when the trumpets are packed away, and the certainty of faith feels more amorphous, and we are wondering what to do, will you step out in faith, and answer your call?

 

An Adventure with Your Name on it, Part 3

This post is the third in a series from a sermon.  It is continued on May 3, 2023.

Earlier this year I participated in an online course called Women Speak of God.  It was an examination of six women throughout Christian history whose words and lives have spoken – and still speak to us – about God.  One of the women we studied was Georgia Harkness.  She was a 20^th century Methodist Theologian who lived from 1891 to 1974. She taught in the field of theological studies for almost 40 years, and she wrote prolifically about doctrine, devotional practices, and social issues.  According to what I read about her, she worked toward institutional justice for women and laypeople and passionately against the injustices of segregation, violence, and the use of atomic weapons.  Her writings about faith really intrigued me, and much of what I want to share with you today is from her writing.

 There are many in the room who could probably recite the beliefs we share as a church if I phrased it beginning with the words, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth, and in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.  Is this belief what makes us a Christian?  No.  Belief and faith are not the same thing.  Faith is not agreeing to the truth of a statement – faith is something else – something more. 

 

First, Harkness says, faith is a positive trust – a willingness to place one’s life in someone else’s keeping.  It all comes down to this – it is NOT if we believe God exists. Faith means we TRUST God with our lives. I think churches around the world have many members who proclaim the existence of God, but that belief makes no difference in their lives.  We think atheism means not believing in God, and it does, but the bigger issue in churches is practical atheism.  Harkness says it like this: “The basic atheism is unwillingness to commit our lives to God’s keeping, callousness to God’s demands, the ordering of life as if God did not exist.”

 

The writer of the book of Hebrews said, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”  By God’s free gift of loving grace, by Christ’s incarnation, death, and resurrection, we are forgiven, we are saved, we are transformed from what we were before to people who are moving on to perfection in love. God’s Holy Spirit is in this room with us, right now, and will leave this place with us – will proceed us in our day. This is the assurance of things we have hoped for. Do you believe it? To you trust in God so that you order your life around it? Do you hold in your heart the conviction that like Jesus, you too are called Beloved?

 

Many years ago, when I was a child – and I suppose I was taught this – I would end prayers with “thy will be done.” I remember praying that my great-grandmother would get well, “thy will be done” – but she didn’t.  She died.  It was many years, maybe even more than a decade – before I could use that phrase again.  It wasn’t until I came to the conclusion that I could trust God enough to trust that God’s will was loving and kind – truth worthy.

 

Maybe you think that only people like Terry, or Mark, or other people who carry the title “ordained” are called to ministry.  Maybe you doubt that God has a ministry for you to do. How do I assay this nicely? You are wrong.

I truly believe, and I want you to trust this – that God is calling your name for something. Will you hear God’s call and order your life around answering it? Will you trust God enough to answer God’s call? This is faith.

An Adventure with Your Name on it, Part 2

This post is the second in a series from a sermon.  It is continued on May 1, 2023

The scripture today is from John 20, verses 19-31. 

¹⁹ When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁰ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. ²¹ Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” ²² When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

²⁴ But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵ So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

²⁶ A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” ²⁸ Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹ Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

³⁰ Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. ³¹ But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

I think the structure of this passage is interesting.  It has two parallel stories with an interlude in the middle.  In the first one, the Disciples, without Thomas, are gathered in a locked room and Jesus joins them – it didn’t matter that the room was locked.  He shows them his hands and his side – the wounds.  The disciples rejoiced, and Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit on them and sent them out. 

 

They tell Thomas what has happened – “We have seen the Lord” - Did they say, “We have seen the Lord? Or did they say, “WE have seen the Lord!” (and you didn’t). Anyway, Thomas doesn’t believe them.

 

In the second, parallel half, almost the same thing happens – The Disciples are in a locked room, this time with Thomas, and Jesus comes in to the room.  He then responds to Thomas’s disbelief by providing what Thomas needs – to look at the wounds (just like before).  Thomas is convinced.

 

Thomas gets a new name – Doubting Thomas – or at least that’s what we call him.

 

Names are important, aren’t they? They identify us. My name is Kimberly Ann Brown Matthews.  Of course, I picked up the Matthews when I got married, but my name has not always been Kimberly Ann. For three days, after I was born, it was Terry Lee.  That was the name my parents decided to use – or maybe just my dad – because when I was three days old, Dad walked into the hospital room, and said, “Hi, Terry Lee.”  Mom told him that was not my name – she had changed it.  I wonder what I would have been like if my name had stayed Terry Lee.

 

Abram and Sarai received new names from God – Abraham, and Sarah.  Simon became Peter when Jesus renamed him, telling him he would be the rock on which the church would be built. If you remember the resurrection story from John, it was when Jesus said “Mary” that Mary Magdalene recognized him.  In some ways, we see Jesus with an additional name at his baptism – God’s spirit descended over the water, and a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved.”

 

We call Thomas “Doubting Thomas,” but Jesus didn’t. Jesus called him Beloved.  Jesus came back to the locked room, and provided what Thomas needed, and then, just like the other disciples, Thomas was called to faith.

 

I thought this Sunday after Easter – when the party is over and the trumpets are silent - would be a good time to talk about faith, and what difference it makes.

 

You do have a name in addition to the one your parents gave you. You are a follower of Christ – you are called a Christian.  What does that mean? 

An Adventure with Your Name on it, Part 1

This post is Part 1 of a sermon that will be continued on April 26.

Steve and I really enjoy the movie Apollo 13 – it’s one of our favorites. If you haven’t seen it, go fix that.

Anyway, the movie begins on July 20, 1969. That is the day that two astronauts from Apollo 11 – Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldren – first walked on the moon.  Jim Lovell, who was head of the backup crew for Apollo 11, threw a party that night for other people in the program so that they could watch the moon landing together.  Everyone is gathered in his living room, sitting, standing, laughing together as Walter Cronkite narrated the event from the television. There was champagne and snacks, friends gathered.

 

Do you remember the first moon landing? In the movie, you can feel the awe and anticipation as Armstrong steps onto the surface of the moon, and says those now famous words – one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

 

After the party, the scene cuts to the Lovell’s backyard.  Jim is in a lounge chair, looking at the night sky, and his wife, Marilyn, is walking in the backyard, looking at the mess from the party, dragging a bag of trash, overwhelmed by the detritus of the big event.  She says, “I can’t deal with the cleaning up – let’s sell the house.”

 

I think this Sunday, today, feels a little bit like that.  Last Sunday, we were here, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. There were tulips lining the aisles. There was music – every good party needs great music – we had trumpets and trombones. We had a great meal together – communion – and we sang Alleluia.  Christ is Risen, Indeed!

 

Today, though, it feels more like the aftermath of a party.  The meal is gone, even the crumbs have been swept away. The flowers are still here, but the chairs are stacked up, and the trumpets are back in their cases.  We’re singing a song we’ve never heard before. Not as many people got up early enough to come to church, and we don’t even have our regular pastor to preach.

 

Christ is still risen, but what are we going to do about it? Last week, we celebrated – we could almost feel the presence of Christ, and we were strong in our faith. This week, it doesn’t feel like that. Do we even believe it all happened?

Thirst and Life, Part 4

Steve and I have become interested in a live Youtube feed from a bald eagles’ nest in California.  The nest belongs to a breeding pair of eagles – Jackie, the female, and Shadow, the male.  Jackie laid two eggs this year, and everyone watching the live feed has been holding their collective breath, hoping the eggs would hatch.  Last year, the egg Jackie laid did not hatch – everyone was hoping for a better outcome this year.  It’s fascinating to watch this pair of eagles care for these eggs.  They take turns on the nest, bringing food to each other.  They run potential predators away, they keep the eggs warm in the snow, they gently turn them – they haven’t given up.  

Happily, one of the eggs has hatched, and the pair is caring for their eaglet together.  But they are still caring for the unhatched egg – an egg that will probably never hatch.  The egg is much older now than the average incubation time for an egg.  We, as logical humans, know it will never hatch, but the eagles ignore logic, and keep the unhatched egg in the nest with their new eaglet.  

We live a life of sin.  We fail to love our neighbors, especially those who don’t agree with us.  We put other gods before our God.  We turn away, and we are so thirsty that we don’t even recognize what we need, even though it is offered to us in abundance.

But God doesn’t give up on us.  God is standing with us, urging us to turn around, and return.  

I found a poem by Jan Richardson this week in a book called Circle of Grace.  I think it applies.  (Note: please see the book for the text of the poem - I don't feel right about printing it here).

God is waiting for us to return.  To be fruitful.  To recognize the dryness of our lives and seek living water.  Will you seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near?  Will you return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on you? 

Will you step into the rest of your story? Will you return?

Thirst and Life, Part 3

This, the posts before it, and one that follows are from a sermon I delivered at Bethesda UMC, based on Isaiah 55:1-9 and Luke 13:1-9.

The gospel reading for today is from Luke 13:1-9.  The very first line says, “At that very time there were some present who told him…”  People were coming to Jesus and telling him news or rumors out of Jerusalem.  They told about Galileans who Pilate ordered to be killed while they were in the temple worshipping God with their sacrifices.  

When you hear this scripture, did you wonder, “Why did they tell Jesus this story?”

Did they just want to make sure he was well informed? Or could it be that they hoped he would take a political stand?  Maybe they were zealots who hoped Jesus would support their revolutionary agenda against Rome.  Maybe they were looking at someone else, assuming the other person had sinned, and they were hoping Jesus could tell them what those people had done to deserve such a fate, so that they themselves could feel safer. 

Sometimes seeing someone else’s sin makes us forget our own.

But Jesus won’t get involved in the political debate.  He won’t point fingers at Rome or at Pilate.  And he didn’t accuse the other people – the ones who had died, or the ones who had killed them, of sin.  Instead, he says, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans?  No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.”

They are looking in the wrong direction.  They are looking away from themselves.  And Jesus says, “You are the ones who needs to repent.”  

And then he tells them the rest of the story.  He tells them a parable about a fig tree that isn’t producing figs.  A man had planted a fig tree three years ago.  It has not been fruitful, so the man tells the gardener to cut it down.  Everyone listening to the story would have understood the man’s request – three years is long enough to wait for the fig tree to bear fruit.  But the gardener convinces the owner to give the tree one more year.  The gardener is going to nurture the tree, put manure on it, give it one more chance.  

But what stops us from recognizing our own sin, our own thirst, and our need of God’s grace? One commentator I read said the clue may be in the treatment the gardener suggests for the fig tree – he plans to dig around it and put manure on it.  The commentator suggests that we should read “manure” as humility – there is nothing much more humble than manure, is there?

When Josh was in elementary school, he brought his class picture home.  The picture showed him with his arm bent, posed for the camera.  He insisted that his arm hadn’t been held like that when they took the picture.  If you asked him today – at 25 years old – he would still insist that his arm had been held different – all evidence to the contrary.  

We are proud.  We can be arrogant.  We certainly don’t want to be wrong.  We all, I think, close our minds even to what God might be trying to tell us.  

We love to tell the latest gossip, share the Facebook post that we agree with, even while not seeing if it is true. We insist we are right, because anything else would require humility.

But there is more to the story.

Thirst and Life, Part 2

This, the post before it, and ones that follow are form a sermon I delivered at Bethesda UMC, based on Isaiah 55:1-9 and Luke 13:1-9.

The scripture we heard today from Isaiah was written to the Israelites after the fall of Judah.  They were in exile in Babylon.  For them, God had always been in Jerusalem.  The temple was the only place of worship. The temple in Jerusalem was where God dwelled.  And here they are, far from home, far from what they had always known, and, perhaps, as far as they were concerned, far from God.  Maybe, at this point, they were even doubting that God existed, or at least they were unsure if God cared what happened to them. They were in a desert.  Literally, and figuratively.  They were thirsty, and they were trying to quench that thirst with whatever they could find.   Isaiah tells them that God is asking, “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?”

Then Isaiah tells them the rest of the story.

Isaiah tells them that God isn’t absent – they just need to turn around: “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”

I like how one commentator put it: Isaiah tells them, “Hey, stop it.  Whether or not you are thirsty, whether or not you are hungry, you need what God has to give.”

Think for a moment about the desert in which we live, for surely we do live in a desert, even in our lush mountains.  We live in a time that is highly commercialized, where everything is marketable.  We are bombarded with commercials telling us what we need in order to live a happy life. 

We live in a time when even as Christians, we stand in opposition to each other, seeing so many people as the enemy, instead of seeing them as beloved children of God, beautiful to behold.  We see Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative, rich or poor, employed or not, addicted or clean.  We see the sinner, and we fail to realize how thirsty we are ourselves, as we strive to make our point. Or to buy the biggest car, or to have the last word, or cast the righteous judgement. 

We have turned away from what can be the rest of our story.  And that is what Lent is about – recognizing our thirst, seeing our own sin, and turning back to God.

God says to us, “Turn around.  Repent.  Look toward me instead of what you think will satisfy your thirst.  You need what I am so willing to give you so that you can live.”

Thirst and Life, Part 1

This, and the posts that follow it, are a sermon I delivered today at Bethesda UMC

You may remember, if you have been part of Bethesda UMC for a few years, that you had a pianist for a few months in 2015-2016, who was named Josh Matthews.  Josh is our son.  I thought today I would tell you the Rest of the Story (as Paul Harvey used to say). 

Josh finished his undergraduate degree at Marshall and then moved to Tuscaloosa. Alabama to do his graduate work at the University of Alabama, which leads me to say something I never imagined I would say: Roll Tide. 

Anyway, he worked with the Million Dollar Band as a graduate assistant and earned his Masters degree in Music Education.  His next goal was to find a job as a music teacher, and he did.  In the late spring early summer of 2020, he accepted a position as an assistant band director at Green Valley High School in Henderson, Nevada.  Henderson is a neighboring community to Las Vegas.  And in case you don’t know, they are both in the desert.  The hot desert.

So, in July of 2020 – in the middle of a pandemic – in the middle of a hot summer - Steve and I drove to Tuscaloosa, helped Josh pack up his moving truck, and began our four day, three vehicle caravan across the country to Nevada.  It was great – we enjoyed the time together, saw beautiful scenery – beauty that is so different from our West Virginia Hills. 

At noon on our last travel day, we pulled into Henderson, got the keys to his apartment, and started unpacking the truck.  It was 106 degrees.  And there was no shade.  And his apartment is on the second floor.  And Josh owns the heaviest couch in the country.  And it had to be carried up 19 steps, and a hillside.  In the 106 degree sun.

They say it is a dry heat. As if that is something different from a wet heat.  It is.  What I discovered is that a dry heat is just as hot as any other heat – but you are much more thirsty.

Steve is a long-distance bike rider.  When he is preparing for a ride, he doesn’t start drinking when he’s riding the bike.  He starts drinking water before the ride – to prepare for what is to come.  When you’re thirsty, you’re already dehydrated. 

Our need for water as living beings is just as fundamental as our need for oxygen or food.  Water keeps us alive, and thirst is our body’s warning sign to us we are dehydrated and that we need water. 

The problem is, sometimes, that we don’t even recognize our thirst, do we?  

 

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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