On Friday, January 3, 2020 our Council of bishops issues a statement which you can find here regarding a proposal (which you can find here) which will presented to General Conference in May of 2020. The WNC Bishop, Bishop Paul Leland issued a response to conference clergy following the release and his response can be found here. There is also a list of Frequently Asked Questions that can be found here. I invite you to read over each of the sources of information and then read below the sermon I delivered to my congregations today. I welcome any questions you may have of me by way of phone call or email. You may reach me at 828-734-6548 or by email at kdotson@wnccumc.net.
Sermon:
Let the Light Shine Pastor
Kelly
Based
on Isaiah 60:1-6 and Matthew 2:1-12
Happy New Year! And Happy Epiphany! Technically tomorrow is Epiphany but since we
do not gather for worship tomorrow, we are celebrating it today. Epiphany is January 6th and falls
the day after the 12th day of Christmas which is actually today,
marking the end of Christmas tide.
Traditionally it is a church festival in commemoration of the coming of
the Magi as the first manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles as was just read
to you. What do we know about the
Magi? We know that they come from east,
following a star, in search of Jesus. It
is significant that they are from the East.
This signified that they were Gentiles and that Emmanuel, God with us,
appeared not just for the Jews but for ALL.
The part of the story I want to focus on today is the star. That
beautiful star of Bethlehem that led the Magi to the true light of the world,
Jesus. In the Gospel of John, the first
chapter we are told that “in the beginning was the word and the word was with
God and the word was God. He was with
God in the beginning. Through him all
things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light
of all people.” The light of the star
led the magi to the light for all the world.
This light, it shines in the darkness and the darkness Does. Not.
Overcome. It.
This
directs us back to the Isaiah passage for today. I want you to hear the first few verses of
that passage again. “Arise, shine, for
your light has come and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick
darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears
over you. Nations will come to your light
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
Lift up your eyes and look about you:
all assemble and come to you.
It is a New Year and as the year
2020 has dawned we have seen the darkness of the world and perhaps we have
anxiety about the darkness we see ahead of us.
We have heard news of an attack on the US embassy in Iran and a
subsequent attack by the US Military which resulted in the death of at least
two prominent Iranian Government officials and threats of more violence against
the US. It is an election year and already our televisions, newspapers and
social media news feeds are filled with political advertisements that shoot
darts at the opposing parties. Mud is
being slung and will continue to be slung.
Then on Friday our beloved United Methodist church made national news
again when our council of Bishops issued a report on a proposal for separation
of the United Methodist Church being submitted to the 2020 General Conference
in May. I do not know which news outlet
first broke the news but if you google it you will get 5, 810,000 hits. The headlines reading United Methodist Church
splits over LGBT issues. As the news broke we again found ourselves in the
midst of a lot of mudslinging and perhaps some have felt the same pangs of
anxiety as one feels with war looming.
We feel like we are walking in the dark of the unknown in places where
people, children of God, are being harmed; are harming one another and it
doesn’t feel good. It feels dark. For those of you who have not read the news
and do not know what I am speaking of I
want to pause here and explain this a little further.
On Friday clergy received an email
from conference office that was Bishop Leland’s response to a proposal for
separation that was announced by the council of Bishops. This proposal comes from a diverse group of
representatives of all sides who had been meeting together with a mediator
since the special called general conference in February. The details of the proposal are available on
line and I will send out an email and publish a Facebook post today that has a
link to that proposal. Despite what some
of the headlines in mainstream media have read, the church has not decided to
split. Decisions of the United Methodist
Church can only be made at General Conference which typically meets every four
years. This is, as it states, a proposal
being sent to General Conference for consideration when it convenes in May of
this year. If you have ever watched
General Conference then you know that very rarely does a proposal or petition
get passed without first going through several amendments which change the
original proposal or petition. I will be
spending time with our leaders on Saturday going over the major highlights of
this proposal and making decisions about if and how we want to address this
news. I know full well how anxiety
producing this is for everyone on all sides of this issue. I say issue but I need for you to understand
we are not talking just about an issue
We are talking about people. You wonder what it means for your church. Some of you wonder if the church is going to
go in a direction that goes against your personal belief system? Some of you wonder if there is going to be
room at the table for you or your loved one?
I myself have been fighting
anxiety with a lot of deep breathing and a lot of prayer over the last two
days. The charge to lead you through
this time in our church’s history is a heavy charge to carry and I assure you
that I do not take that responsibility lightly.
For now, I encourage you to go to our official United Methodist News
sources for your news regarding the United Methodist Church. The mainstream news does not always
understand our structure and our way of operating and they mis-report the
facts. If your friends ask you questions
only answer what you know to be fact and ask them to pray for our
denomination. First and foremost, I ask
you to enter a time of prayer, study and reflection for yourself. In your prayer, study and reflection I want
you to reflect on the Three Simple Rules put forth by John Welsey: Do No Harm, Do All the Good You can, Stay in
Love with God.
So yes, as we enter 2020 there is a
lot of darkness that looms and as the prophet Isaiah puts it: it is a darkness that “covers the earth, a
thick darkness over all the peoples. It
is the darkness of harm being done. It
is the darkness of our faith being challenged.
For some it is the darkness of being excluded from the table. For some it is the darkness of feeling like
the core of your beliefs have been challenged. The darkness is fear. It is fear that has tenticles coming out of
its being and grabbing you. However, it
is important that we not stay with the darkness , that we do not let fear have
the last word.
Hear the good news of this passage. “your light has come and the glory of the
Lord is upon you” and “the darkness does not overcome that light.” That light
is the power of Jesus Christ. It is the
same light that came into this world and turned the Pharisees on their
heads. It is the same light that came
into the world not just to shine light on the Jews but to shine a light to all
nations. It is the same light that
healed sickness and disease. It is the
same light that challenged the status quo.
It is the same light that shone a light on women appearing first to
women after the resurrection and sending women to go and tell. It is the same light that shined on the
people in the margins. It is the light
of love for God is Love.
My challenge to you this morning as we walk
into the new year together is to center yourself in that light and to take that
light and shine it into each other and into this community.
Elaine
Arrowood picks out the bulletin covers each week and there is no doubt in my
mind that the Holy Spirit was involved in the picking of this week’s Bulletin
cover that is titled “Focus on One Thing.”
On the back of the bulletin there is a reflection that talks about how
many of us start the New Year off making resolutions about every part of our
lives: our health, our relationships,
our finances, and our jobs. It becomes
very overwhelming and when we don’t see progress we just give up and feel like
we have failed. The reflection encourages us then to focus on just one thing
and that is to Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul,
with all your strength and with all your mind and to Love your neighbor as
yourself. The focus there is love. So, as we walk into this New Year as the body
of Christ here at Nebo (Snow hill) United Methodist lets walk into it together
with our focus on love. How are we going
to love our neighbors at Nebo Elementary School (Here in the Bridgewater
community, how are we going to love our members with special needs and those
with special needs in our community, how are we going to show love to the
residents of McAlpine Adult care? How are we going to show love to the Nebo
Community at large? How are we going to
show love to each other?
We are going to show our love right
now by committing to the ways in which we feel called to serve this community
by filling out the insert in your bulletin.
You will bring these inserts with you and place them in a basket as you
come for communion. It is okay if you
feel like you need time to pray about this.
You may take them home and pray about it and bring it back next week and
place it in the offering plate. We are
also going to show our love this morning by installing our leaders for
2020. Finally, we are going to show our
love this morning by taking communion together during which you will hear the
cry out to God that is cried out every time we have communion: “Make us one
with Christ, With each other and with the World.” So, Arise, shine, for your light has come and
the glory of the Lord rises upon you.”
IN the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
