Matthew 13:31-33; 44-52 The Kingdom of Heaven is like what? Sermon preached for South Macon Charge July 20 and 27, 2014

I have to admit that when I first read this scripture I was scared, worried and frustrated.  Having grown up in a tradition where Christianity was many times reduced to what you have to do to get your ticket into heaven and your fire insurance policy to keep you out of hell, I have spent much of my adult life avoiding the subject of hell altogether.  Images of burning furnaces, gnashing teeth and wailing people are not images I want to leave people with when I proclaim the good news of God’s Kingdom.  I don’t want people to come to know Christ because they are afraid of what will happen to them in the after life.  I want people to come to know Christ because they have experienced the extravagant Love God pours out on all of us.  I want people to come to know Christ because they have experienced Grace and Mercy.  I want people to come to know Christ because they have experienced the support of fellow humanity within a community who follow the teachings of Christ.  So, I am going to confess ahead of time that I am not going to tackle the questions of heaven and hell in this sermon.  That is a very small portion of this large text that has much more to do about what it means to share in the Kingdom of God.  You might say, But Kelly, the scripture here says that Jesus is telling us what the Kingdom of Heaven is like.  You are right, that is what it says.  You see Matthew wrote for a primarily Hebrew audience.  In Jewish life it was seen as an abomination to speak God’s name outloud so Matthew replaces the word God with Heaven, the place from which God reins.  If you look at the equivalent scripture in the Gospel of Luke, Luke uses the phrase “Kingdom of God.”  But isn’t heaven the Kingdom of God?”  Certainly it is.  Don’t forget though the prayer Jesus models for us.  “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on EARTH as it is in heaven.” (insert reference)  The realization of that little phrase “on earth”  has got to be the most transformational realization I have had in my Spiritual journey.  We can have and should strive to have the Kingdom of God rein here on earth as it is in heaven.  Our prayer should daily be for God to bring heaven to earth.  When we turn on the news and our screens are filled with the evidence of evil in this world, it is sometimes hard to have hope that this can even happen.  This week our screens and radios have been filled with the news of the shot down Malaysian airliner that claimed 298 lives, 80 of them children.  This occurring just 4 months after another Malaysian airliner disappeared and still has not been found.  The Israeli-Gaza conflict continues taking the lives of 4 innocent children this week.  As I wrote a prayer for peace on my facebook page this week one response was “there will be no peace until Jesus comes.”  Yet, in the midst of these tragedies stories of kingdom living come out.  Churches open their doors to give people a place to come and pray and grieve and find comfort.  Memorials are erected, hotels open their doors to family members as a gathering place of hospitality to grieving family members as they wait.  Our passage in Romans reminds us that God works good in all things.  So, my prayer will always be to live a life that will aid bringing about the Kingdom of God.  To live lives that will bring about the rein of God on earth we must understand what it means to be the Kingdom of God and that is what Jesus is teaching in chapter 13 of Matthew. 

                First, Jesus tells two parables about the growth of the kingdom from small beginnings into something large.  In the parable of the mustard seed he describes the smallest of seeds growing into a large tree.  In the parable of the yeast he describes a small amount of yeast multiplying the size of dough.  The interesting thing about both of these things, mustard plants, and yeast is they can be seen both in a positive light and a negative light.  I could eat my weight in yeast rolls.  Missy just made  some for the luncheon on Friday and oh my they were good.  There is nothing better than a freshly buttered yeast roll at a steak house.  Yet we know that yeast can be a source of infection and disease as well.  One of the things I found out about the mustard seed is that mustard is much like what we know of Kuzu today.  The seed germinates immediately and spreads rapidly and once one mustard seed gets planted it is nearly impossible to get rid of it in that place (GOBD and Wikipedia)  These two objects of these parables have the propensity to be used for both good and bad. Jesus points to the good aspects of each.  Jesus sees the good.  In a Kingdom where God reins it is the good that shines through.  In the Kingdom where God reins something that starts out small turns into something that is big.  In the Kingdom where God reins , like the birds who find shelter in the branches of the mustard plant, people can find shelter and comfort, respite from the worries of the world.  In the Kingdom where God reins there is hope in the midst of tragedy.  It doesn’t take much.  Just like the old campfire song says, it only takes a spark to get a fire going.  As Kingdom livers and Kingdom seekers we are to be that spark in the world. 

                Next Jesus tells two parables about treasure.  First, he states the kingdom of God is like a treasure.  Once found it is buried and the person finding it goes and sells all he has to buy the field that the treasure is in so that it is his.  This parable suggests to us that the rein of God should be so valuable to us that obtaining it should be worth all that we have.  Can we say that today.  Can we say that the most important thing in our life, worth all that we have, is seeking and working for the rein of God, on earth as it is in heaven? 

                The second of the two parables says that the Kingdom of God is like a merchant who finds a pearl and goes and sales all he has to obtain it.  Many people see these two parables as saying basically the same thing.  I don’t.  The first parable says the Kingdom of God is like a treasure.  The second one says the Kingdom of God is like a merchant.  A merchant is one who goes out and looks for goods to sell to others.  In this parable the merchant finds a pearl and sells all he has to obtain the pearl.  Perhaps humanity it the pearl and Jesus is the merchant.  In the Kingdom where God reins people are seen for the treasure that they are.  It brings to mind other parables of Jesus such as the woman with the lost coin, the shepherd with the lost sheep, the story of the prodigal son.  In God’s eyes each and every one of us are worth being sought after and each and every one of us is greatly treasured. If we are to be Kingdom seekers and Kingdom Livers we must view each person that we come in contact with the eyes of the merchant, eyes that see the pearl.  One thing I read about pearls is that unlike other gems which have to be polished and refined to bring out its beauty the pearl is beautiful as it comes right out of the oyster, it is naturally beautiful.  With God’s eyes we see the beauty in everyone just as they were created to be. 

                This brings us to the final parable Jesus speaks about in this chapter of Matthew.  The parable of the net.  He says the Kingdom of heaven is like a net that gathers up lots of fish.  The fishermen pull in the net and began sorting the good from the bad.  I think it is important here to focus on the net.  When a fisherman casts a net out, he brings in all the fish that get into the net.  ALL fish.  When we are kingdom livers and kingdom seekers it is not our job to judge which fish are the good fish and which fish are the bad fish.  This parable is much like the parable of the wheat and weeds which Janet will get into more next week.  The point is that God is the only judge of who is good and bad.  As workers in the Kingdom we are to accept all that enter into the net.  We are to treat all people as members of the Kingdom with those fruits of the spirit that we talked about last time.  With patience and kindness and gentleness.  It is God’s business who is righteous and who is evil.  It is our business to accept all into the net, to see all as pearls, to seek the kingdom of God for the treasure that it is willing to give all to obtain it for in the Kingdom of God we find refuge. 

                Jesus ends this section by asking the disciples if they understand and then giving them the responsibility for spreading the Kingdom of God through the spreading of these lessons!  That is our responsibilities as disciples of Jesus Christ. As seekers of the Kingdom we need to be a place of refuge, we need to be in search of the treasure that is in each human being, we need to value the kingdom of God more than anything else, we need to accept all into the net and we need to teach this to others as we spread the good news of God’s rein, growing the kingdom from something small to something big. 

Go from this place today casting your nets wide!    

Taking Root in Good Soil: Matthew 13:3-9 Sermon Preached for South Macon Charge July 6 and 13, 2014

            This morning our passage of scripture takes us to a lake shore where crowds had gathered to listen to Jesus.  In fact there was such a big crowd gathering that Jesus got in a boat and pushed out into the lake and taught from the boat.  Jesus uses a method to teach called a parable.  You see the gospel, good news that Jesus had to bring to the people was a message that the people had trouble understanding.  Jesus spoke of a kingdom, the Kingdom of God, in a way that no one would understand a kingdom to be.  It was a kingdom where power was suppressed by servanthood.  It was a kingdom in which there was no male or female, Jew nor

Greek, servant or free person, democrat or republican, white or black and we could go on.  In the Kingdom in which God reigns everyone is equal and everyone is loved.  The first is last, the last is first. Peace is sought in all things.  For Jesus to get the people to understand he had to speak in stories that related to their everyday lives, thus he taught in parables and this parable is about farming.  This parable can be approached from many different directions.  Many people read themselves into the position of the farmer, the one who sows the seeds of God’s word through the spreading of the message of this new kind of Kingdom.  That would not be a wrong reading for we are all as followers of Christ called to spread the word, to share the good news.  However, as I meditated over this passage of scripture I began reading myself into the different soils.  I studied plant life and what I began to recognize is that our Christian journey is much the same as the cycle of plant life from seed to flower to fruit and back to seeds which scatter and begin the cycle all over again. 

            It’s been a long time since I was in elementary school learning about plant life so I had to do a little research.  What I found out is that there is 5 stages to a plants life.  First there is a seed that is planted in the ground. There are certain conditions that need to take place for that seed to move to the next phase.  The seed must be planted in good soil.  The most important thing about the soil is that it is damp and that it is warm.  The seed must get wet to begin to develop it’s roots which is the next phase.  If the seed is planted in good soil, is warm enough and receives enough moisture it moves into the next phase of developing roots.  The root system is very important, without it nothing else can happen.  The roots deliver water to the rest of the plant, life giving water.  The roots keep the plant firmly in the ground.  The roots keep the soil from washing away.  The next phase of the plants life is that it develops stems and leaves.  It is through the stems and leaves that the plant receives food necessary for developing the flowers that become the next phase.  It is after the roots have developed sending water into the plant to allow it to develop a stem system which carries water to form a leaf system which provides food that we begin to see flowers and from that flower comes fruit.  Also from that flower new seeds are produces and the final stage  of plant life is the scattering of the new seed which happens in a variety of ways.  Seeds are scattered by the wind, seeds are scattered by people who harvest them and replant them, seeds are scattered by animals carrying them off., seeds are scattered by fruit that falls to the ground.  As I studied this it amazed me how easily a parallel could be drawn to the Christian Life and this is easily seen by the parallels Jesus makes to the different kinds of soil that seeds can end up in.

            The Parable here tells us that the seed Jesus mentions is the word regarding God’s Kingdom.  Jesus never tells us who the farmer is but he is very detailed in telling us about the different soils.  The different soils he describes represents people, those that hear the news of God’s Kingdom and how they respond to that good news.  As we go through this I want to think of your own faith journey.  What kind of soils have you found yourself in?  What kind of soil are you in now?  The first thing Jesus describes is seed that found it’s way on the path.  I’m imagining this to be a part of the field that is where people walk.  The dirt is packed down and hard from the many feet that pass over it every day.  Jesus tells us that the seed that falls on the path is taken off by the birds.  He explains to his disciples that this soil represents the people who hear the news of God’s Kingdom and do not understand it so what is there lies dormant and eventually what was planted there is carried off.  One of the things I learned about seeds this week is that if they are not in good soil where they receive water then they lie dormant until they receive the water they need.  Nothing happens.  On the path, exposed they run the risk of being carried off by birds or other animals unless someone takes the time and the care to move them to good soil.  Keep that in mind. 

            The next kind of soil Jesus describes is seed that falls on rocky ground.  Rocks prevent seeds from developing roots.  Remember roots are essential for life.  They give life giving water, they hold the plant firmly in the ground.  They keep the soil from washing away.  Jesus explains that this soil represents people who hear the word and immediately receive it joyfully but they have no roots.  Because they have no roots when they experience distress or abuse because of the word, the immediately fall away.  I am reminded of a couple of things when I hear this description.  When I was in the youth group of the church I grew up in we would take a yearly trip to Garden City Beach Retreat in South Carolina where we would spend a week studying the Bible and enjoying each others company at the Beach.  It was a fun trip.  Everything about it was fun.  It never failed on the final night of the trip we would have our final worship time together which was always very emotional.  We had spent the week learning about the goodness of God’s Kingdom.  We had spent the week building and strengthening relationships.  There together we felt like we were invinsible disciples of Christ, nothing could come between us and our relationships with God and each other.  Tears would flow, love was shared, we would come back on top of the world ready to share this great news with anyone who would listen.  But….if each young person was not rooted in the local church, and with supportive families and with supportive friends on the outside of the four walls of that church then this would not, could not last.  Friends on the outside would make fun of them or question them, family members would not insure that they got to church where they could continue to benefit from study and from relationships with other Christians, the church didn’t have a plan for insuring they constantly received the water of life, that they were firmly in the ground, that the soil beneath them didn’t wash away.  They would fall off, never to be seen again.  Keep that in mind.

            The next kind of soil Jesus describes is soil in which the plants are choked out by thorns.  Jesus explains that these are the people who hear the word but the worries of this life and the false appeal of wealth choke the word, and it bears no fruit.  When you let other things take over your mind and your heart it chokes the life out of everything else.  Keep that in mind. 

            Finally Jesus describes good soil.  Good soil is represented by people who hear the word, understand it, bear fruit and produce.  This is the soil that we should strive to be and that we should aim to bring others to.  What does it look like for a person to bear fruit and produce.  Let’s look back at the cycle of the plant. 

            Just like a plant the Christian journey begins by our hearing of the good news of God’s Kingdom, God’s saving grace.  If the soil has been properly prepared then our Christian life begins to take root when like the woman at the well we accept the living water of Jesus Christ.  That living water gets pumped through our veins through what John Wesley calls the means of grace.  Stems begin to develop and the bread of life in Jesus Christ begins to nourish us and bring forth flowers.  And the flowers produce fruit.  Galatians 5:22 tells us what fruit it is that Christians bear.  “The Fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.”  Are you bearing fruit this morning?  If not it might be time to examine the soil.  Finally, with the production of fruit comes the production of more seed.  Through the fruits of the spirit we are able to take the seed, the good news of God’s Kingdom, and scatter it to more people.  We are all called to go and share the good news of God’s love and God’s rein.  In doing so we fulfill the mission of Jesus Christ and the Mission of the United Methodist Church to Go and Make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the World.  To do this we must make sure that we ourselves are rooted in good soil and that we provide good soil where others in the community can find a place to develop roots that receive the living water and the living bread. 

            As I mentioned above we can do this by participating in all the Means of Grace that God has provided us.  For John Wesley these Means of Grace are divided into two broad categories:  Works of Piety and Works of Mercy.  Each of these categories have both individual and communal properties.  There are individual things such as prayer, fasting, searching scripture, helping individuals in need.  There are communal things such as communion, baptism, corporate worship, seeking justice in the world as the body of Christ.  It is my prayer that I can be a leader and servant among you and among the South Macon Community in cultivating good soil where we can all experience the bearing of wonderful fruit.  I hope you will partner with me in this adventure that we may bloom together.  In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen. 

 

 

 

 

 

Matthew 16:13-20 Sermon Preached for South Macon Charge August 17 and 24, 2014

Matthew 16:13-20

 

            Keys to the Kingdom, binding and loosing, what does all of that mean?  What does it mean that Peter is the rock upon which Jesus builds his church?  What does any of it have to do with me or with you?  Those are the Questions I’ve wrestled with this week and this morning I share with you the fruit of that labor. 

            To better understand this story we need to understand the larger story within which it is placed.  We know that Jesus has been going along teaching his disciples, teaching the crowds, and healing a lot of people.  He has done this among both the Jews and the Gentiles, showing through his example that the Kingdom of God is for all of God’s creation, not just the elect Jews.  This has certainly not made the Religious leaders happy and as we approach this story we know that the Pharisees are seeking a way to charge Jesus with an offense and to discredit him and get rid of him.  In chapter 15 they question why the disciples don’t wash their hands, earlier in this chapter the Pharisees are asking for a sign from heaven.  Jesus tells them again; as he has before that the only sign they are going to receive is the sign of Jonah.  Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, Jesus would be in the belly of the earth for 3 days and 3 nights.  (See Matthew 12:39) Jesus then warns the disciples about the “yeast of the Pharisees.”  Jesus basically tells the disciples these guys don’t have it right, don’t let them corrupt you.  We should remember that the Pharisees were the religious leaders of the day.  It is at this point that we pick up our story today.  This story is a turning point for the story that Matthew rights.  At this point there is a shift from healings and miracles to preparing the disciples for his departure.  He in essence is changing the guard by giving the keys to the kingdom.

            He begins this transition by asking the disciples “who are people saying that I am?”  What is the word in the streets?  Some say Elijah, some say John the Baptist, and others say Jeremiah or other prophets of old.  There is no dispute among the streets that at the very least Jesus is a prophet, a messenger for God.  That being established Jesus asks “who do you say I am?”  Peter, who frequently shows up on the scene as a leader is the first to speak up.  “You are The Christ, The Son of the Living God.”  Peter has gotten it, the disciples have gotten it!  The time has come; Jesus will pass on the Keys of the Kingdom!

            In the tradition of Old Testament Prophets Jesus first Blesses Peter saying “Blessed are you Simon, Son of Jonah, because no human has shown you this.  Rather, my Father who is in heaven has shown you.” (Matthew 16:17) There is much to learn from that one sentence.  First, John identifies Peter’s father as John.  (John 1:42)  The two names are very close in Aramaic and Matthew uses this to his advantage as he develops this story.  Jonah was a prophet, the same prophet that Matthew writes about earlier in the chapter when Jesus tells the Pharisees that the only sign they will get is the sign of Jonah.  The other thing that is significant is that customarily to call someone the son of a prophet is saying that person is a prophet in training.  Hold onto that for a moment. 

            The next thing that is significant in this blessing of Peter is Jesus saying that Peter is blessed because he got the identity of Jesus through listening to God, not from listening to what others were saying.  Humans don’t always get it right, even preachers get it wrong sometimes.  While it is good to have teachers and advisors, we must never solely depend on what other people say.  We must look at the evidence for ourselves.  We must listen for the spirit of God for ourselves.  We must study for ourselves.  What evidence do you have that Jesus is the Christ, The son of the Living God?

            This one verse has set up Peter as a prophet in training, a prophet that can discern the voice of God.  He is a prophet that has been renamed by Jesus from Simon to Peter, meaning the rock.  Jesus says it is upon this rock that he will build his church.  It is to this prophet that he will give the keys to the kingdom.  What does that mean though?

            When I unlock the door to my house, I am giving myself and others entry into my house.  I’ve been doing that a lot lately with the remodeling of my house.  I was very leery about having a lockbox at my house that a number of people had the combination to.  The lock box contained the keys to my kingdom, to the place I find comfort, the place where I go to heal my wounds, the place where I feed my body and my soul, the place that contains my treasures, my home. By giving up my key I was entrusting another person with all of that.  It was a pretty scary thing.  Jesus is entrusting Peter with so much more.  He is entrusting him with the keys of entry to the kingdom.  He can unlock it and allow entry or he can do as the Pharisees do and lock it tight. They put on so many rules and regulations that persons can’t possibly fulfill them all and the consequence for not fulfilling the requirements…..you get locked out.  Matthew later writes that the Pharisees are Hypocrites because they shut people out of the kingdom of heaven.  Here, by giving Peter the keys to the kingdom, he is changing the guard of religious leadership to Peter and the disciples.  Just what are the keys of the kingdom?

            “Binding and loosening” are the keys to the kingdom.  What in the world does that mean!  All the scholars agree that Jesus is giving Peter the authority to call the shots for the followers of Jesus.  This phrase can be tricky though.  “Whatever you bind in heaven will be loosened on earth; whatever you loosen in heaven shall be bound on earth.  Another way of translating this is “Whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven.”  This reading suggests that Peter’s job is to bind in loosen the kingdom way, the way things are bound and loosened in heaven.  It’s not about who gets in and out.  Jesus is angry with the Pharisees for making entry hard to impossible.   So what is it that Peter is to bind and what is it that he is to loosen?  As I studied the word bind as it is found in scripture, it was used in several ways.  It was used when persons were entering a contract; it was used to mean to tie something or someone up.  It was also used to mean taking those things that are so important for you to remember that you must know them so well that it is as if they were fastened to your body in some form or fashion.  In Deuteronomy we are told that the commandments can be summed up in this manner:  “Love the Lord your God with All your heart, with all your soul and all your might, and your neighbor as yourself.”  We are told to bind these to our forehead, to teach them to our children.  Proverbs tells us that loyalty and faithfulness are virtues we should bind around our necks.  Binding is also used to speak of healing and of unity.  Jesus is frequently referred to as one who binds wounds.  Colossians tells us that love is what binds the body of Christ in perfect unity.  I believe these are things that Jesus wants Peter to bind on earth that has been bound in heaven. 

            Loosening can also have a variety of meanings.  It could mean kicking someone out.  It could mean untying something or unfastening something.  But listen again to our Old Testament reading from this morning from Isaiah 58:6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?”  In the Kingdom of God, on earth as it is in heaven, this is what gets loosened. 

            So Jesus has passed the keys of the kingdom to Peter giving him the authority to bind and loose.  What does all of this mean to you and me?  Peter was a representative of the Kingdom.  Later in chapter 18 Jesus gives this same authority to all the disciples.  We, the church, are called to carry on the keys to the kingdom.  We are called to bind and loose.  We are called to Love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, all our minds and our neighbor as ourselves.  We are called to loose the chains of injustice and untie the yoke of oppression.  Jesus asked Peter, Who people say that I am.  Peter answered by the evidence he had seen and by the voice of God that he heard.  I ask you, who do people say Asbury United (insert the name of your own church) is? Do our neighbors know who we are?  Do our neighbors know the love of Christ because they have seen it in us?  Do those who are oppressed and treated unjustly in our community know that we are a people who will fight to loose those chains of injustice and untie those cords of oppression?  We have the keys to the kingdom.  We’ve been learning for a month and a half what the kingdom is and what it is not.   Are we going to be like Peter and Paul after him and use those keys to open the doors and allow entry or are we going to be like the Pharisees, locking people out of the kingdom?  Jesus built his church on the rock of Peter.  We are that church in this community.  How will we be known?  In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,   Amen!

 

 

 

Keep the Fire Burning: A Farewell Sermon for Long's United Methodist Church

            This sermon is going to be different from any sermon I’ve preached for you.  Really, it’s going to be different than any sermon I’ve ever preached for anyone.  ‘I have preached sermons for the last time in a few places, as a lay speaker.  Actually many times the first sermon was also the last.  I have never knowingly preached a farewell sermon.  I don’t know how to do that.  When I don’t know how to do something I look to see how such things may be presented in the Bible.  Well either that or I google it.  Google did well for me in teaching me how to keep a campfire lit, how to set up my tent, how to quickly set up and tear down an EZ up….but it wasn’t very much help with this task so I turned to the Bible for help with this one, thus the two scriptures I picked out this morning:  Moses’ farewell to Israel and Jesus’ farewell prayer for his followers.  I do not claim to be anywhere close to the holiness of either of these men-but they do know how to give a good farewell, so I am borrowing from them to bid you farewell. 

            I begin with Jesus.  “The time has come.”  Of course Jesus is saying the time has come for him to leave this World.  God willing, that is not the case for me.  The time, for me, has come has come as a united to Methodist Minister, to itinerate to the next place the Bishop has discerned could benefit from my gifts and graces.  When the Bishop calls I must get on my horse or in this day in my KIA, and go.  I am looking forward to this, to being able to proclaim the good news of God’s love to another community, and to do so every week.  However, I am keenly aware that looking forward is only possible because of the trust and faith you placed in me.

            I walked into this church for the first time about 5 or 6 years ago.  I remember Mabel being here and Opal Lee.  Jim and Marilyn were the first people I met.  I remember Marilyn asking me if I wanted my check made out to the Gideons.  She thought I was speaking for the Gideons.  Unfortunately I’m afraid I don’t meet the eligibility requirements to be a Gideon.  I googled it, just to make sure.  Nope, I don’t have the right plumbing.  Then I met Charlie who let me know he couldn’t do two things at once so I would need to lead the whole service.  So, it was here, in this pulpit that I led me first full service.  Here is what I remember most about that first visit.  Friends of mine visited here that morning and as I was teaching Sunday School back at Long’s Chapel, my friend brought up how much her children enjoyed the service.  Believe it or not their enjoyment had NOTHING to do with the wonderful sermon I preached, or the way I led the congregation in Worship or the beautiful benediction I gave.  No, their enjoyment had to do with lollipops, lollipops given by Ms. Jane and hugs given by many of you in the congregation.  It had to do with having that intergenerational contact and relationship.  That kind of thing can get lost in large churches when it’s very easy for age groups to get Siloed and for a child to never meet a person over the age of 50 much less have a relationship with them.  So guess what?  My friend began intentionally seeking intergenerational opportunities not just for her kids but for all Long’s Chapel Families.  Do you see what I’m telling you Long’s?  The Love of God that you shared on one particular Sunday morning, through the giving of lollipops and a few hugs as you shared the peace of Christ sparked an entire ministry in another church a few miles down the road.  Who knows how many lives have been touched and transformed by that! You AMAZE ME!!!!!

            Not only do you amaze and inspire me but you have equipped me and empowered me.  Jesus says of his disciples in verses 6-8:  “

 

⁶ “I have revealed your name to the people you gave me from this world. They were yours and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. ⁷ Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. ⁸ This is because I gave them the words that you gave me, and they received them. They truly understood that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.[1]

 

            I say the same of you.  You believed that I have been gifted and sent by God.  It is because of that trust that I am a certified candidate for ministry.  It is because of that trust that I continue to be a licensed local pastor.  It is because of that truth that I am enabled to make my life’s work the proclaiming of the Good News of God’s love to those persons who have felt rejected, ostracized and orphaned by the church.  Imagine the number of lives that may be transformed by yet again one simple act made by this congregation. 

            It is because of these things, and out of my deep love for you that I will continue to pray for you every day, just as Jesus prayed for his followers:  “Watch over them in God’s name.”  (vs. 9) “Keep them safe from evil, (vs. 15) and “Make them Holy in truth, your word is truth.” (vs. 17)

            Not only will I pray for you as Jesus did his followers but I will also pray as Jesus did “for those who will believe because of you.”  My friends if you remember nothing else about me or what I teach and preach I pray that you remember “
Thy Kingdom Com on Earth as it is in heaven.”  We are not to wait for death to experience God’s Kingdom-the reign of God’s love.  We can and do experience it right here and right now.  The Christian life is meant to be lived in community and I’m not talking about the people inside the walls of this church building.  I am talking about what happens when we leave the four walls of this building and carry what we experience in here-out there.  I wrote this sermon sitting beside a camp fire.  (For those of you who follow me on face book you’ve been waiting to see where the fire was going to come in…well here it is.)  I was able to keep that fire going for over 5 hours.  Here are some things I noticed.  First:  To keep the fire going I had to add new logs.  When I first began preaching as a lay speaker here I would inevitably overhear conversations from the Sunday school room or from the front steps that went something like this:  “What are we going to do about our little church?”  “Do you think they will let us stay open?”  “I’m afraid they are going to shut our doors.”  I heard it almost every time.  But, you know what?  I haven’t heard those conversations in the last couple of years.  You’ve added some logs.  How did you add those logs?  David and I came because we had experienced your love and you were a mile from our house. Sandy, Marie and the kids came because it was an intimate church, close to home and Sandy had visited once before and enjoyed the love she felt in this place.  Chris and Natasha came because they had a relationship with Charlie and when they were struggling and looking for God, looking for hope in what seemed hopeless times- they came here, and they stayed, until they moved, because you showed them love.  Delcie and Hayley are here, well because Charlie fell in Love.  All kidding aside though, I imagine she stays because of the relationships that have been extended to her in this place.  Mary and Molly came because they knew Sandy and Marie.  Sandy and Marie had spread the good news of what happens in this place.  What is it that happens in this place?  Relationships happen, love happens, community happens.  That is how you add logs.  Keep doing it! 

            The second thing I noticed about the fire is that sometimes I would think the fire was over, it was about to burn out.  There were just a few embers left.  Then I would see a whole new flame strike out.  This would happen when a piece of log that had strayed away from the fire or that the fire had strayed away from would be touched by an ember from a nearby log and would catch on fire all over again.  It has done my heart good to experience Louise in this space over the last several weeks.  I only met Louise at Easter time.  Oh how I enjoyed by visit with her. A few weeks later she was back among us.  Why?  She was back among us because she was touch by the ember of another log when Marilyn called her and as they talked Louise shared her longing to be back in church.  Marilyn offered to pick her up, and here she is back among us.  You must encourage each other to keep the fire going.  You must take note when people stray away.  Find out what is keeping them at home.  There might just be something you can do to remove that obstacle. 

            So I pray.  I pray for all those people yet to come but who will come because you’ve built relationships, you’ve shared the good news and you’ve removed obstacles that prevent people from coming.  I pray that people will be added and as they are you all are one just as Christ is one with God. 

            Finally, Jesus says I wish you could go with me.  Jesus did not want to leave his disciples behind.  I wish I could take every one of you, Rennie too, with me.  I wish you could see and experience the fruits of your investment.  I can’t take you with me though.  There is work to be done right here and you are the laborers for that work!

            Before Moses left Israel he gave a long speech in which he gave a blessing to each tribe of Israel.  I considered doing that this morning with each household represented here.  But time is an obstacle for that-so instead be watching the mail in the next couple of weeks for your blessing.  In the meantime let me just say may God Bless you and Keep you.  May your fires continue to burn bright as you work in this community to bring God’s Kingdom to earth.  I Love you all.  In the name of the father, the son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

 

 

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[1] Common English Bible Accessed at www.biblegateway.com June 21, 2014

Hope Even When You are Melting-Sermon Preached at Longs UMC March 23, 2014

This sermon was preached in Memory of Louise Hunter Greenwood and Robert Brown.  Both who showed amazing faith and hope in the midst of "melting." 

 

I am so excited to share with you the good news of the faithful obedience of Jesus Christ and what that means for us that I don’t know whether to shout, to cry tears of joy, or to dance. Paul gives us a clue in this text, we are to celebrate and so celebrate is what I am going to do today.  I am going to celebrate  Just as Paul celebrated in being able to share the magnificence of God, in his justification, his suffering and his reconciliation with God, we today have these very things to celebrate so let’s not waste any time Let’s celebrate!

We continue looking this morning at Paul’s letter to the Romans.  We are given an interpretive clue right off the bat when the first word of our text is therefore.  Whenever we see the word therefore in the Bible, the writer is saying make sure you know and understand what I just wrote before you proceed forward.  In this instance Paul is talking about the fact that he has just established that both Jew and Greek are part of the covenant God made with Abraham.  Israel doesn’t have dibs on God’s grace and love.  God’s grace, love and peace are for all. Knowing that we can all approach the next part of the text knowing it is for us, justified by Christ’s faithful obedience even unto death.  That is the first thing we celebrate!  We celebrate that while there is nothing we can do to justify ourselves, Christ’s faithful obedience unto death has justified us.  In that moment we were pardoned and the restoration of ourselves into the image of God we were created to be began!  NT Wright says that in his death Jesus has ushered us all who believe into a room where we now stand, a place characterized by the presence and sustaining love of God” This is the grace into which we stand and that is something to be celebrated! 

Paul says hold onto your seat though.  If you think that’s great there is more.  Not only do we celebrate in being justified, at peace with God, standing in God’s grace.  We also celebrate in our suffering.  What?  What do you mean celebrate in our suffering?  I will never forget the moment I got the call that my best friend’s mom was quickly losing her battle with cancer at the young age of 43. I was devastated, I was in my first year of seminary and I was already in the midst of questions that I didn’t know the answers to.  Many first year students in seminary talk about losing their Jesus.  I was quickly losing my Jesus and this wasn’t helping matters.  Louise’s life had been marked by more suffering than any one person should have to endure and I didn’t understand.  That question of where God is when bad things happen to good people was coming to the forefront of my thoughts and my confusions.  In that moment a good friend looked at me and said “I envy Louise right now.”  He went onto explain to me that “Louise is knowing God right now more intimately and more fully then I could ever imagine, and I envy that.  He was right, when asked for a word as she laid on her death bed she awoke for just long enough to recite Psalm 91 which includes a promise for long life.  Yet, there she lay dying.  This week our community lost a wonderful man when they lost Robert Brown.  We’ve been praying for Robert over the last 3 years.  Elsie has requested prayer for him.  Andrew has requested prayer for him.  Many of us know and love his wife and know all the suffering she has endured over the years.  Our hearts hurt as she and Robert battled this cancer together over the last 3 years.  Last Sunday at Long’s Chapel Robert gave his “God Story” through video to the congregation.  The video was taped within the couple of weeks preceding and Robert knew his battle with cancer was near its end.  As the members of Long’s chapel watched that video, Robert laid in a bed at the Homestead Hospice with one foot still here and the other in the very presence of God.  What did Robert say in his God story?  He said:

 “Even though I am melting as we speak I’m so glad I’ve made it to this day.  As I look around, I thank God for the gifts that he’s given me and that I got to lie to this time.  There’s always hope.  My story is to say as I fought through the cancer I was dealing with stuff that made me realize that everyone has struggles in life.  I am not alone.  With God I am not alone, I am never alone.  And he has given me the strength to see through, as I’ve told my wife recently, I can do this with God, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.  That is where I am in my life.  I have not given up hope and I know that he’s behind me and he’s behind my family and those who are losing hope have to know that hope is always here, right behind the chair you’re sitting in.  I couldn’t sit here any longer, I wanted to come and share with you that there is hope.”[1]

 

He knew he was dying…..yet there was still hope.  You see friends when we are suffering we are not alone.  God is with us and gives us the endurance and strength.  Write these words down.  Suffering produces endurance, endurances produces character, character produces hope.  Now say it with me suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, character produces hope.  Don’t forget that.  We have hope because we have God’s love poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is always with us!  That is something to celebrate! 

                But wait……there is more.  After Paul expounds on God’s love for us, his great love for us that is so great that even when we are alienated from God, even when we are hostile toward God, we are reconciled to God through Jesus.  He says yep, there is even more to celebrate.  Not only are we justified, not only do we have hope even in our suffering, but we have received reconciliation.  I looked up the word reconciliation in the Eerdmans’s dictionary of the Bible.  It says that to be reconciled means that there is a changed relationship in which formerly estranged persons experience a restored harmony.  Because of the faithful obedience of Jesus Christ we are reconciled to God.  “God is the perfect reconciler.  Death and resurrection restored all people to a right relationship with God and summoned every believer to cooperate in this ministry of reconciliation.” (Erdman, 1112-1113) 2 Corinthians 5:18says: “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.”  We celebrate today in the fact that we through the death and resurrection of Christ we are everyone invited into reconciliation with God.  God is always there, never leaves us, and never forsakes us.  Now we are to respond to that by seeking reconciliation in our world, in our communities, in our church, in our families.  Who do you need to reconcile with this morning.  Who are you estranged from?  Who do you hold a grudge against and avoid being around.   My friend God reconciled God’s self to you, won’t you take the steps to reconcile with others. 

                In a few moments we are invited to the table to feast on the gifts of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.  We come to the table in celebration of the fact that God loves deeply each and every one of us.  We come to the table in celebration of the fact that by the faithful obedience of Jesus Christ we have been pardoned.  We come to the table in celebration of even our times of suffering for in those times of suffering we are made strong and given hope through the outpouring of God’s love through the presence of the Holy Spirit with us.  We come to the table in celebration of the fact that we are reconciled with God. 

                We are going to sing our song of response this morning.  It is a song that celebrates that marvelous infinite grace of God in which we stand.  The altar is open this morning.  As you celebrate your reconciliation with God, as you celebrate standing in this room of grace that Jesus brings you into, do you need to bring others into the room of God’s grace by way of extending that grace to others?  Make that commitment today, either where you sit or stand or here at this altar. Now, let’s celebrate this marvelous, infinite Grace in which we stand.  In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit Amen. 

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[1] Robert’s full story can be seen at http://www.longschapel.com/media.php?pageID=106

Seeking God, Seeking Kingdom, Seeking Life

Luke 11:1-13

Focal Luke 11:2-4

 2-4 So he said, “When you pray, say,

Father,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.”  (The Message accessed at www.biblegateway.com)

Luke's version of the Lord's Prayer is shorter, direct and to the point.  The disciples asked Jesus how to prayer and this was how he responded.  Sometimes it is hard to know how to pray, what to say.  Sometimes we get caught up wanting to use the right words, have the right posture, be in the right place.  We make it much more complicated than it should ever be.  I like the way the message portrays the prayer.  Sometimes, when I pray, I use the Lord's Prayer to structure my own prayer, expanding each element.  It is interesting that in none of the synoptics does the Lord's Prayer include petitions for other people.  It gives me pause to wonder, it gives me something else to consider.  I personally add those prayers of petition into my prayers.  

Jesus goes on to use an example of a persistent person who gets what he is asking for through persistence.  He says Ask and it shall be given, Seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened to you.  We seek God's Kingdom.  I have to quote Dallas Willard again today.  Dallas states that we should seek God's kingdom in every face to face encounter we have.  To do so transforms us, our relationships, and others.  

We ask for our "daily bread", that which we need.  Notice the model prayer is asking for what we need to sustain our life, not what we desire or want.  

Finally we ask to be forgiven, forgiving and in right relationship with God through the resistance to temptations to be outside of right relationship with God.  

Can you start out your day with this prayer?  Can this prayer become your life mantra?  Can this prayer become more than something we recite on Sunday morning.  Can this prayer become embodied within each of us and within our community of faith.  Knock on the door of God's heart and the doors the the Kingdom will swing wide open and you will enter in!  Thanks be to God.  

God, Neighbor and Self

Luke 10:25-32

Focal Passage:  Luke 10:26-28

He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all yourheart and with all your soul and with all yourstrength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love yourneighbor as yourself."

Today's Lenten Refelction completes the 10th chapter of Luke.  The disciples and others continue to follow Jesus on the journey to Jerusalem and we walk with them.  Jesus continues to instruct the disciples in hopes that they will soon "get it."  Both of the stories are well known stories of the Bible. In the story of the Good Samaritan Jesus defines who are neighbor is.  In the story that follows Jesus lets the disciples know through his interactions with Mary and Martha, that the busyness of life should not interrupt the more important things of life, such as spending time with and listening to the teachings of Jesus.  As Bishop Ken Carter pointed out this week in a reflection he posted on these passages, Luke designed these stories to be read together.  There is a lesson to be taught in looking at them as a whole story.  I posted Ken's reflection on my facebook page for you to review.  The Bishop points out that it is through spending time with Jesus and learning his teachings we are then equipped for showing compassion to our neighbors.  Jesus defines neighbor as anyone who comes across out daily path with a need.  

As I consider this I am again reminded of something I heard Dallas Willard say in a broadcast I am currently listening to.  He said that no ones obituary ever reads __________ had a wonderful car, was a great housekeeper, had pretty teeth, and so on.  No people are not remembered by the busyness of their lives, they are remembered by their kindness, by their compassion.  

The other thing I want to point out about our focal verses for today is that we are to love neighbor as self.  My 4th grade Sunday School teacher, Marietta Crayton, pointed out to me that this verse tells us that it is important that we love ourselves.  It is important for us to see ourselves as the creatures God created in God's own image.  I am 45 years old, some 37 years past the 4th grade and I have never forgotten that lesson.  It left an imprint on my heart.  It was a simple yet profound message as she had us peer into a box to see something that Jesus loved.  In that box was a mirror reflecting my own image.  God loves me.  

Take time out tonight to sit at the feet of Jesus just as Mary did.  Soak up the love and learn to love yourself as Jesus loves you.  Then take that heart full of love and let it spill out onto those who cross your path in need, for those are your neighbors.  

The Gospel Jesus Preaches

Luke 10:1-24

Focal Passage:  9 cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.  Luke 10:9(NIV)  taken from www.biblegateway.com

As our journey to Jersulem moves forward into Luke chapter 10 Jesus exapands the harvest workers beyond the 12 apostles.  He appoints around 70 people to go out into the villages to proclaim the good news.  I discovered a Jewel yesterday when I downloaded what I thought was a typical John Ortberg Book for my next listening excursion on my commute.  It turns out that I downloaded a whole conference that featured Dr. Dallas Willard.  The conference, given 3 months before Willard's death has been turned into a book study entitled:

Living in Christ's Presence
Final Words on Heaven and the Kingdom of God

More information can be found at www.dwillard.org.  I think I have discovered a jewel in Dallas Willard though my 1 hour exposure to his writings is hardly enough to fully endorse.  However, his teaching thus far in this book speaks into our scripture for today.  

We are all called to be workers in the harvest.  There is a lot we could unpack in these 24 verses but I want to focus on verse 9.  Dallas Willard, in this book, poses the question:  "What is Jesus's Gospel?" He points out that evangelism today tends to focus on winning converts through a message of "what are the minimum requirements for going to heaven when you die."  Think about it?  Isn't that true?  While he points out that God is gracious enough to use this as a jumping off point for people, it was not Jesus's Gospel.  Jesus' gospel was "The kingdom of God has come near to you."  Matthew records the great Commission:  "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20, NIV from www.biblegateway.com)  He did not say go and tell people how to get into heaven.  He said go and make disciples.  What is a disciple?  Webster's dictionary states that it is someone who "accepts and spreads the teachings of a famous person."  The call is not just accept Jesus as your saviour.  The call is to accept Jesus as your teacher and teach others his teachings.  Embody those teachings.  When you look at what the gospel of Jesus is, it doesn't take long to realize that the gospel message Jesus brings is the "good news of the Kingdom of God."  The kingdom of God is open to us right now.  By following the teachings of Jesus we experience the Kingdom of God "On earth as it is in Heaven."  Wilard goes on to point out that disciples are not for the church, disciples are made by the church for the world.  Are we doing enough in our churches to make disciples or are we preaching and teaching a message of "these are the minimum requirements to get into heaven when you die?"  My challenge for you today is to become a disciple of Jesus Christ by learning his teachings and living them out for by doing so you don't have to wait until you die to experience the Kingdom of God for the Kingdom of God is available to you right now.  So, get in the yoke with Jesus and let him lead you and guide you!  

Thanks be to God.