Jesus Provides

August 2, 2026 10th Sunday After Pentecost Matthew 14:13-21 Jesus Provides Prelude Greeting Call to Worship As we gather and as we disperse, as we rise and as we sleep, as we eat and play and work, We offer God praise. As we wash our car, scrub the dishes, rinse the grime of the day from our hands, We offer God praise. As we feel the tips of the grass on our feet, the wind against our face, the sun on our backs, We offer God praise. Come, let us worship God who creates, redeems, and sustains us to live out our praise in all we do! We come as people formed by grace to offer God praise with our whole selves now and in all the ordinary moments of our lives! Amen. Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, May 2026. Opening Prayer Loving God, out of our fear, our anxiety and our discouragement, we come to you. In our energy, our excitement and our delight, we come to you. Help us recognize your presence in the midst of our own situations, even as we seek your blessing for our own lives, and for the life of ALL your creation. Walk with us in this hour and in each day as we limp and laugh with you. AMEN (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Song Come Sinners to the Gospel Feast UMH 616 A Sermon for all Ages Children’s Sermon: “Jesus Makes a Little Enough” Scripture: Matthew 14:13–21 Suggested objects: A small piece of bread and a small cup Good morning, everyone! Today’s Bible story begins with a very large and hungry crowd. More than five thousand people had gathered to hear Jesus. When evening came, the disciples said, “Jesus, these people are hungry. Send them away so they can find something to eat.” But Jesus surprised them. He said, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” The disciples looked at what they had. It did not seem like much—only five loaves of bread and two fish. Can five loaves and two fish feed more than five thousand people? It sounds impossible! But Jesus did not ask the disciples to give what they did not have. He told them to use what they already had. They brought their small meal to Jesus. Jesus took the bread and fish, looked up to heaven, thanked God, broke the bread, and gave it to the disciples. The disciples shared it with the people. And something wonderful happened: everyone ate until they were full—and there were even leftovers! This story teaches us that something small can become enough when we place it in Jesus’ hands. A small gift can help someone. A few kind words can encourage someone. A little bit of food can be shared. One child’s loving action can make a big difference. We remember this every time we celebrate Holy Communion. Look at this small piece of bread and this small cup. They do not look like a large meal. Yet Jesus takes this small meal and uses it to feed many people—not just our bodies, but our hearts and souls. Christians around the world come to Christ’s table and receive the bread and the cup. Through this small meal, Jesus reminds us that we are loved, forgiven, and part of God’s family. At Communion, Jesus also tells us what he told the disciples: “Use what you have.” Bring your love, your kindness, your gifts, and even the small things you can do. When we place them in Jesus’ hands, he can use them to bless more people than we could ever imagine. Let us pray: Dear Jesus, thank you for taking small things and making them enough. Help us to use what we have and share it with others. Thank you for feeding us at your Communion table with your love and grace. Take our small gifts and use them to bless many people. Amen. (ChatGPT 6) Responsive Reading Psalm 17:1-7,15 UMH 749 Scripture Matthew 14:13-21 Sermon Jesus Provides Imagine….. We Know How the Disciples Feel You know how the disciples felt when the crowd showed up... The two of you haven't had a night out without the kids in weeks. You finally get away. The waiter has just brought your appetizer when the baby-sitter calls and tells you the youngest has a high fever and has started throwing up. You've been planning this vacation for six months. Your reservations are all made and three days before you are scheduled to go your mother calls and says your Dad is going to have a quadruple bypass as soon as the doctors can get his sugar stabilized. You haven't had a day off in three weeks. Friday morning your sister calls, says her father-in-law has died and wonders if you could take her kids for the weekend. It has been a very long day. You woke up before dawn because your arthritis hurt so much. You had to go to the grocery store and take your dog to the vet and on the way home your car started to act up and you had to leave it at the garage and get a taxi to take you home. All you want to do is go to bed when the phone rings and it's your friend who lost her husband last month and she just needs somebody to talk to. And always, when we think we have given all we have to give there is always more need: the starving people in the midst of a famine; refugees from war; the devastation of floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, and tornadoes; to say nothing of our neighbors who are hungry; the children who need someone to care about them; the youth in our community who have nowhere to go and nowhere to grow. We know how the disciples felt. Matthew doesn't have to tell us. Roger G. Talbott, Good News for the Hard of Hearing, CSS Publishing Company. Jesus takes time out of his personal grief to show compassion Jesus was grieving the death of his closest cousin. He needed time to pay his respects. He went away to be alone, but the people and their needs followed him. He put his own needs aside to listen and to talk. He was motivated by compassion. They say that misery plus mercy equals compassion. And compassion leads us to health and healing. Compassion can take us to unexpected places. But compassion always makes a difference. Dr. Jake find compassion in helping others The doctor has never been to Kenya before and to say he was overwhelmed didn’t begin to hint at his inner turmoil. Five chiorpractors from four corners of the united states had volunteered their time, all costs, and expertise for two weeks. They had been sponsored by a church organization fo the Jake it seemed a little too churchy. They stayed in a colonial era hotel that separated them from the locals. But each day they went to the tent. A white tend, open on all sides, welcomed in all of Africa’s ailing. At least it seemed that way to Jake. There are at least 2000 of them, he stated incredulously to one of the other doctors and he was correct. Outside in the sun, beneath the pepper trees, an army had appeared. They had heard the news – free medical care by American doctors. So they stood in the burnt brown grass waiting for their turn at the benches. Jake used a simple wooden bench and under the head of each patient he placed two books to lift their necks. The bible and Margaret Meades coming of age. Jake, like the other doctors did quick assessments of the patient before him. Then he began his adjustments. But a few thoughts lingered – These people are really ill. Some of them suffer from more than one ailment. Some are HIV positive and I am giving them adjustments. But maybe, I’ll help just one. What else can I do? Each day he and the others worked for hours. Once a fight broke out. Too many needed care. This went on for seven days. On the last day, Jake hammered physically, and emotionally let off some steam by wandering in the street market. Soon he felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to face a man. Doctor, doctor please look at me. Jake turned – oh no, I cant do anymore. A muscular Kenyan man faced him. Look what you did, his face radiated a smile. I don’t need my cane. I can stand up straight. Jake thought that he recognized him, but there had been so many. Doctor I have something for you. I have looked for you all over this town. He unfolded a piece of paper and handed it to Jake. It was an old newspaper article. That was me. I ran in the Olympics for Kenya. I couldn’t stand for twenty years. Now I don’t need a cane. Here, you keep this article. I signed it for you. Jake accepted the gift and he didn’t know what to say. But he did know what to think. Maybe it wasn’t too churchy. I asked for one and you gave me one. – thanks. Jake came back from his mission trip a changed man. I was so proud to see so many people volunteering for sharefest yesterday. I am interested in hearing your stories – of the people you helped and the difference it made in our life. Compassion certainly made a difference in Jesus life and mission. He wanted to tell everyone about the value of compassion. He invited everyone, including us to follow his example. The lesson that Jesus teaches us – to compare God’s abundance with the world’s scarcity. We know what scarcity feels like. But we should also know that in the toughest situations, God provides – we know what it means to have enough. The Churches favorite story Our scripture for today is the churches favorite story – the story of enough – the feeding of the 5000. This is the only story in the new testament that is told in all four gospels. Each gospel has a slightly difference version, but the story is the same. Our scripture in Matthew is the only one that is associated with John the Baptist’s death. This is the beginning of Jesus ministry – that takes place in the desert. This is also the comparison of two very different feast. First we have the feast of Herod. It is a gathering of the rich, there is lots of food being served. People are fed, but it is not enough to fill them. John D. Rockefeller was asked at the height of his career by a reporter, "Mr. Rockefeller, how much is enough?" And he responded, "Just a little more than I have." Dan Matthews, "Our Mentality of Scarcity Among God’s Abundance" That was before he became a disciple of Jesus – and he learned that enough is what you give to help others. The feast of Herod leads to death – literally the death of John the Baptist. But also death to all of those who attend – looking for more and never finding it. In his grief, Jesus decides to have his own feast. This is a gathering of poor people, barely making it. They are looking for hope in the word of God. Jesus feeds them the word, but he also feeds them 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. When they are ready to leave, they have enough. Their spirits and their bellies are full. This is s feast that leads to life. God’s abundance is also enough. They understand compassion and generosity. The Loaves and Fishes Still Work Educator Parker J. Palmer was en route to a conference when the plane he was on made an unexpectedly long layover at an airport. A truck that was supposed to deliver the refreshments for the next leg of the journey broke down. Finally the pilot decided that it was more important to get his passengers on their way than to wait for the snacks to arrive, so he took off. As soon as they were in the air the passengers started grumbling. “A ticket is a contract,” one said loudly, “and snacks are part of the contract.” “I ought to sue,” another muttered. A man stood up and said, “I’m a lawyer. How many are willing to join in a class action suit?” A minor mutiny was in the works. Then something interesting happened. A flight attendant came on the public address system. She began with the familiar information on such flights: “Ladies and gentlemen, the captain has turned off the seatbelt lights. We have now attained a cruising altitude of 30,000 feet.” Then she said something quite extraordinary: “Having served many of you on the first leg of this flight, I know some of you still have your bags of peanuts, which you stuffed in your pocket. How many do we have? Five? Please open them and share them with the people around you. I’m sure some of you have mints. Would you pass these around, also? Those of you with newspapers, you can only read one section at a time. Spread the other sections around for others to read. Some of you are parents or grandparents. Take out the pictures of your children or grandchildren and show them to others.” With that brief announcement she changed the emotional climate of that flight. Later, when the flight attendant came near Parker Palmer’s seat he asked her, “What’s your name? What’s the name of your supervisor? I want to write a letter of commendation. That was the best example of group leadership I’ve ever seen.” To which, she replied, “The loaves and fishes still work.” King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com The loaves and fishes still work today. We too have a chance to learn compassion and generosity. The beginning of faith is in the wilderness In the story, one feast takes place in a palace. Another takes place in the wilderness. Jesus spends a lot of time in the wilderness. Just like the Isrealites who came to know God in the wilderness. The wilderness in the bible is desolate, deserted, a place with no words only silence. But it is always the place to go to find faith. Where are the wilderness spots in your life? Where are the places in your life where you are searching for the meaning of enough? Where are the places where you have found the riches of God in the midst of the sparseness of life? One of the places where Christ finds us in the wilderness if communion. Communion is intended to be our wilderness meal. We come together in the brokenness of the world. The meal does not fill us up- but the sip of grape juice and the cube of bread is enough to feed out spirits. And our spirits feed our mind and out body. The scripture says that Jesus blessed the bread, broke the bread and shared the bread with us. When we have enough, there is enough in us to share with others. Sometimes in life we are the members of the crowd – hungry and willing to be fed. Sometimes we are the disciples feeding others, and sometimes we are the body of Christ – inviting people to come to the feast and experience enough. As a matter of fact, Christ words to us in the scripture is you feed them with what you have. In the hands of Christ, what you share is always enough. Jesus does provide. You Feed Them – Generosity A man was packing a shipment of food for the poor people of Appalachia. He was separating beans from powdered milk, and canned vegetables from canned meats. Reaching into a box filled with various cans, he pulled out a little brown paper sack. Apparently one of the pupils had brought something different from the items on the suggested list. Out of the paper bag fell a peanut butter sandwich, an apple, and a cookie. Crayoned in large letters was a little girl's name, "˜Christy -- Room 104.' She had given up her lunch for some hungry person. Jesus says to us, "You feed them!" This is an incredibly rich world. We are rich people and we serve a rich God. "You feed them!" King Duncan, You Feed Them! She gave what she had and it was enough – we are encouraged to do the same. Let us pray…… Song One Bread One Body UMH 620 Pastoral Prayer Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment Perhaps some of you can sympathize with Jesus. He’d been working non-stop, healing, teaching, and responding to the demands of the crowds. When he heard of the murder of John the Baptist, he tried to break away for some time alone. Yet when he looked up from the boat he’d taken across to what he hoped would be a deserted place, a crowd had already gathered! Instead of turning around, or simply dropping anchor out on the water, Jesus came ashore, and “had compassion for them.” Even when we are exhausted, discouraged, uncertain, or downtrodden, we have the model of Jesus standing before us. Jesus engaged, once more, with people who needed food in that deserted place. So he took what was available, gave thanks to God for the bread and fish, and gave the food to his disciples to pass to the crowds. Today, can demonstrate our compassion – our “pity with” others. Not the only way, but one way to respond to the needs of others comes by sharing our morning offering. Will you put compassion to the forefront for this moment? Will you respond, knowing a portion of our offering goes to ____________________ (support the food pantry, provide new underwear for those coming to our free clothing shop, pay our minister as he/she/they counsels with disconsolate folks)? Let us present our gifts as signs and symbols of the compassion we know most clearly from the life of Jesus, the Christ. Prayer of Thanksgiving* As one family we sing while these, our gifts, to God we bring; who in love has made us one in the church of Christ, God’s Son. Use us and use our gifts, good Lord, for holy service in the world. Hope to all your people give as to your glory we now live. AMEN (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Invitation to Communion Each time we come to this Table, we hear an invitation extended to all who will come. Here there are no tests to pass, no threshold of giving to exceed, no affirmation from some authority to present. Here we find the gifts of God for the people of God, presented in simple bread and juice. Counting on the compassion of Jesus Christ, we recognize our hunger and our thirst may be assuaged here even as we remember in a deserted place, long ago, Jesus took simple foods, blessed them, broke the bread and gave the bread and fish. So, today, knowing these gifts will not fill our stomachs, but can satisfy our soul hunger, we remember Jesus taking bread, blessing it, breaking it, giving it. With gratitude, come to receive the bread of life and the cup of salvation. *Adapted from Gifts of Many Cultures, Maren C. Tirabasi and Kathy Wonson Eddy, 1995, Pilgrim Press, p. 126. (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Communion Announcements Closing Prayer for YouTube Go into a world of abundance, with eyes open for the miraculous workings of our God, and as you go, may the blessing of our triune God, creator, redeemer and sustainer, be with you always. (Presbyterian Outlook, Baron Mullis) Community Time Benediction Beloved, may God bless you with the discernment to stop and notice God at work all around you, the inspiration to offer up praise in the middle of the busyness of life, and the peace that comes from beholding the face of God and knowing deep in your bones that we are not alone—God is with us. Amen. Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, May 2026. Additional Illustrations It Don't Add Up Perhaps you have heard the story of the football coach who had two quarterbacks. The first team quarterback was gifted, aggressive, and a born leader. The second string quarterback was, let us say, limited. Oh, he was athletic enough but unfortunately, he lacked a mind for strategy. The championship game was in progress, the score was tied, the home team had the ball, and the clock was ticking down. An opposing player broke through the line of scrimmage and slammed the star quarterback to the ground with such force that the signal-caller had to leave the game. Time was running out. The coach had no choice but to put in the back-up. The substitute trotted onto the field, huddled the team, and strode up to the line of scrimmage. Surveying the opposing team, and much to everyone's surprise, he changed the play at the line. The ball was snapped, the quarterback handed it off to the half-back who busted up the middle and sped all the way into the end zone with the winning touchdown! An amazing play. Moments later, in the ecstatic dressing room, the coach grabbed his second-team quarterback by the shoulder pads and said, "Son, that was great! How did you know to call that play?" The boy said, "Uh, well coach, it weren't easy. I got up to the line and looked across at two of the biggest players I've ever seen and I seen their numbers. One of 'em was wearing a six and the other one was wearing a seven, so I just added them numbers together and got fourteen and called number fourteen." The coach hesitated a moment and said, "But son, six and seven make 13." The boy, quite unmoved by the correction, said, "You know what coach? If I was as smart as you, we would have lost the game." Things do not always add up the way they are supposed to, do they? Traditional Stories, www.eSermons.com How Much Is Enough? The Wall Street Journal ran an article some time ago describing the fastest growing business in America today: the development and the construction of mini warehouses, these small storage facilities that you see in every town and in every city. We first fill the closets and the attic and the basement and the garage and then we go across town and rent some space to store our stuff. The reality is that in the midst of all this abundance of stuff, we have a mentality of scarcity. We think we need a little more. We are yearning to buy, if the price is right. In short, we can't get enough of what we don't need. Imagine our present day culture in any historical perspective. We have more possessions than any culture in the history of the world. We think of ourselves and our own personal value in terms of how much stuff we have. And our basic way of seeing the world is by virtue of scarcity. And if we are honest, almost no one of us is free of that yearning to have a little bit more. Oh, we don't want to be accused of being greedy. We simply don't quite have enough. "Maybe other people do," we say to ourselves, “but I don't. I need just a little bit more.” Moving Fences Many years ago, there was a woman who lived in a small village in France. Trained as a nurse, she devoted her life to caring for the sick and needy. After many years of kind and selfless service to the village’s families, the woman died. She had no family of her own, so the townsfolk planned a beautiful funeral for her, a fitting tribute to the woman to whom so many owed their lives. The parish priest, however, pointed out that, because she was a Protestant, she could not be buried in the town’s Catholic cemetery. The villagers protested, but the priest held firm. It was not easy for the priest either, because he too had been cared for by the woman during a serious illness. But the canons of the Church were very clear; she would have to buried outside the fence of the cemetery. The day of the funeral arrived, and the whole village accompanied the woman’ s casket to the cemetery, where she was buried--outside the fence. But that night, a group of villagers, armed with shovels, sneaked into the cemetery. They then quietly set to work--moving the fence. More astounding than Jesus’ feeding of the crowds with a few pieces of bread and fish is Jesus’ transforming the crowd into a community, a community united in their need for one another, in the bread they share, in the love of Christ who has brought them together. Christ empowers each one of us to perform our own miracles of creating community when we "move the fences" to include outsiders, when we welcome the rejected and forgotten to our tables, when we give of what little we have, joyfully and gratefully, for the sake of others, when we welcome one another as we would welcome Jesus. Jerry Fuller, Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes We Have Nothing But . . . Barbara Brown Taylor, an Episcopal priest and college professor, tells the story of nine teenagers from Vermont who went to a Navajo reservation out west for a week-long mission work project. When they arrived, the Navajos pretty much ignored their presence. They didn’t give them much of a welcome, nor did they offer to help them with any of the work. It wasn’t that the Navajos were hostile or rude. They just didn’t believe that the kids would actually show up. And even when they did, they doubted that they could accomplish much of anything in one week. Besides, they had been promised all kinds of things before by previous work crews, but had seen only meager results at best. They had good reason to be skeptical. However, these kids from Vermont and their adult sponsors were different. They didn’t know how to do much -- they didn’t know how to build a sheep pen or put a new roof on a house -- but they were determined to give it their best shot. And they did. About halfway through the week, a funny thing happened. The Navajos, who up to that point had been watching from the sidelines, now began to pitch in. A group of Navajo teenagers decided to help fix up Annie Begay’s hogan. Apparently they figured that, if these kids could come all the way from Vermont to work, they could help, too. At the end of the week, the youth from Vermont, their sponsors, and the Navajos who had joined the effort -- all of them working together had completed forty-two of the forty-six projects they had set out to do. Taylor concludes: "We went into the week skinny, with only five loaves and two fish; but we came out fat, with twelve baskets to spare. That’s because God made good to match our gifts . . . . It’s something to remember when our own resources look too meager. How many loaves have you?" Story told by Barbara Brown Taylor, quoted by Richard Donovan in SermonWriter The Miracle Everyone Was Waiting On Only one miracle made it into all four gospels. It transpired on the grassy hills by the shores of the Sea of Galilee at a time when Jesus' popularity--and also his vulnerability--was cresting. Wherever he went, a throng that included many deranged and afflicted trailed behind. The day before the big miracle, Jesus crossed the lake to elude the masses. Herod had just executed John the Baptist, Jesus' relative, his forerunner and friend, and Jesus needed time alone to grieve. Doubtless, John's death provoked somber thoughts of the fate awaiting him. Alas, there would be no secluded retreat. A huge swarm of yesterday's multitude made the ten-mile journey around the lake and soon hundreds, even thousands of people clamored around Jesus. "He had compassion on them," says Mark, "because they were like sheep without a shepherd." Instead of spending the day renewing his spirit, Jesus spent it healing the sick, always an energy drain, and speaking to a crowd large enough to fill a modern basketball arena. The issue of food came up. What to do? There are at least five thousand men, not to mention the women and children! Send them away, suggested one disciple. Buy them dinner, said Jesus. What? Is he kidding? We're talking eight months' wages! Then Jesus took command in a way none of them had seen before. Have the people sit down in groups of fifty, he said. It was like a political rally--festive, orderly, hierarchical -- exactly what one might expect from a Messiah figure. Unavoidably, we moderns read Jesus' life backwards, knowing how it turns out. That day, no one but Jesus had a clue. Murmurs rustled through the group on the packed hillside. Is he the one? Could it be? In the wilderness, Satan had dangled before Jesus the prospects of a crowd-pleasing miracle. Now, not to please a crowd but merely to settle their stomachs, Jesus took two salted fish and five small loaves of bread and performed the miracle everyone was waiting for. Three of the Gospels leave it at that. "They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish," reports Mark with masterful understatement. Only John tells what happened next. Jesus got his time alone, at last. As the disciples rowed back across the lake, fighting a storm all the way, Jesus spent the night on a mount, alone in prayer. Later that night he rejoined them by walking across the water. Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, Zondervan, 1995, 175-176. Many Kinds of Bread In the English language, in some contexts, the word "bread" is synonymous with food. In other parts of the world, that's not true. For example, in Eastern Asia, when you say "food," people automatically think of rice. In Malaysia, the same applies to sweet potatoes. For every culture there is a "staff of life." For most it's bread. It's the basic thing you need to stay alive. But all these words - bread, rice, and sweet potatoes - can also refer to the emotional and spiritual basics that keep us alive. There are a few people without whose love and presence in my life, I would find it difficult, if not impossible, to survive. There's one or two I wouldn't mind getting away from a while, just to see how I would do without them, but I need most all of them. And without a faith that receives regular nourishment from the Word of God, all of the Word of God, and all of the people of God, I could not survive. Bread is the biblical metaphor because that was the staple, basic, bottom-line food source of Jesus' day. If Jesus had been from Malaysia, it would have been sweet potatoes, and communion could get a little messy. Johnny Dean, How Much Is Enough? Give Them Something to Eat One billion of the world's richest people consume 80 percent of the earth's resources. The other five billion make do on the other 20 percent. The world has 840 million chronically malnourished people, most of them women and children. Seven million children in the world under the age of five die each year from malnutrition. The Department of Agriculture in our own country, estimates there are 3.8 million families who experience hunger and up to 12 million families concerned about having enough food to feed their families. Hunger is real. The disciples say send them away. Do we not offer similar suggestions? Let the government feed them, let social services take care of them, let the unemployment office help them, let the homeless shelters take them in. Meanwhile, the government is knocking on the door of faith-based communities saying, "When are you going to help?" Leaping from the pages of scripture Jesus exclaims, "Do not send them away. Give them something to eat." J. Howard Olds, Faith Breaks, www.Sermons.com God Lets Us Help Ethan Allen was a big, voluble, rather flamboyant Vermonter, Colonial patriot, a somewhat controversial hero of the American Revolution. He organized a rag-tag army of freedom-lovers known as the Green Mountain Boys. On May 10, 1775, Allen and his "Boys" captured from the British the strategic Fort Ticonderoga. Having returned from this successful venture, Allen did something which he was wont to do sometimes as the mood suited: on Sunday morning he attended church. During the service the pastor offered a long prayer, a great deal of which was an offering of praise to God for the liberation of Fort Ticonderoga. How great was God, and how good, to have wrested that fort from the enemy! Ethan Allen, having sat through as much of this as he could endure, interrupted the pastor, saying, "Parson Dewey ... Parson Dewey, please mention to the Lord that I and the Green Mountain Boys were there!" The plain fact is, of course, that wherever God has done things in the world somebody has been there helping him do them. Yes, perhaps Jesus could have fed that multitude without the five loaves and two fish which the disciples brought to him, but he didn't. He let his disciples help, and he used what they brought. Leonard W. Mann, Life-Size Living, CSS Publishing Company Contrary to What We KNOW The chief objection that modernists have with the story of the Feeding of the 5,000 was answered by St. Augustine over 1500 years ago. Augustine said, “Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we KNOW about nature.” The miracle here was that a weary but compassionate Jesus understood the true power of the Creator God – the Father of the universe. And He acted in accordance with that knowledge: with miraculous results. John Bedingfield, Do You Believe in Miracles? ________________________________________ At Least One Dollar Dr. H. King Oehmig tells a story of the time that a church congregation from Cartersville, Georgia wanted to begin a Habitat for Humanity group. It was in the early days of Habitat, so the group went to Americus, Georgia to meet with Millard Fuller, the founder of Habitat for Humanity. The group toured the Habitat facilities and saw a presentation on how groups operate. Then Mr. Fuller took time from his busy schedule to go and talk to this group. During the course of their conversation, one of the folks from Cartersville said, “Mr. Fuller, we think this is what God’s calling us to do. But before we begin, how much money do you think we should have in the bank to get us off the ground?” Fuller leaned toward the man and in a very low and serious voice told him, “It would be wholly irresponsible, completely negligent, totally feather-brained if you started an affiliate without at least one dollar.But you have to have one dollar. Don’t dare make a move without it!” King Oehmig says that that day, the Cartersville group learned, “as the disciples discovered with Jesus that evening, when He told them to feed the masses themselves – that faced with the Gospel imperative, we were searching for a reasonable alternative to faith.” Just like modern America searches for a reasonable alternative to a miracle. John Bedingfield, Do You Believe in Miracles?

Creation is Waiting on us to Get Better

Rev. Harriette Cross First United Methodist Church of Wilmington July 19, 2026 Romans 8:12-35 Creation is waiting on us to get better 8th Sunday of Pentecost Year A Prelude Greeting Call to Worship (in response to Psalm 139) L: Friends, come! Today we lift our hearts to praise God, who knows each of us, and all of us. P: God knows us, thru’ and thru’! L: No matter where we go, God is with us and for us. P: Even when the way seems fearful, God leads us. L: So we rejoice, for God knows us, loves us, and leads us! P: At home, traveling, moving to step into a new life chapter, wherever we are, in the day or in the night, God steps with us, ALL: Together we worship the Lord our God! (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Opening Prayer In the midst of summer, some of us celebrate the ability to slow down and relax; others find it a more hectic season. Thank you, God of all time, that you continue to lead us no matter how these summer days unfold. We give you thanks for your constant presence, and pause to drink in the wonder of you caring for each one. In this hour, fill us with awareness of you and of your desire for each of us and each one of ALL your beloved ones to be cherished and cared for in your love, AMEN (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Song Swing Low Sweet Chariot UMH 703 A Sermon for all Ages Children’s Sermon: God’s Family Has Hope Scripture: Romans 8:12–25 Good morning, children! Have you ever waited for something exciting? Maybe you waited for your birthday, Christmas morning, summer vacation, or a visit from someone you love. Waiting can be difficult, but it is easier when we know something good is coming. In Romans 8, Paul tells us that we are God’s children. He says that God has adopted us into God’s family. Adoption means being chosen, welcomed, and loved. Because we belong to God’s family, we are never alone. We can call upon God just as a child calls for a loving parent. Being part of God’s family also gives us a responsibility. God wants us to help care for the beautiful world God created. Sometimes people harm creation. We waste food and water. We leave trash on the ground. We pollute the air and water. We may forget that trees, animals, rivers, and oceans are gifts from God. Paul says that creation is “groaning.” That means the world is hurting and waiting for things to become better. How can children help creation? You can pick up litter. You can turn off lights when you leave a room. You can avoid wasting water. You can care for animals and plants. You can share what you have instead of always wanting more. Most importantly, you can ask God to help you become a kinder, more grateful, and more responsible person. When God changes our hearts, we begin to treat other people—and the whole world—with greater love. Paul says that even though the world is hurting now, we have hope. Hope means believing that God is working, even when we cannot yet see everything God is doing. Paul tells us that today’s pain cannot compare with the wonderful future God is preparing. Something better is coming! We do not only keep this hope for ourselves. We share it with others. We give hope when we encourage someone who is sad, include someone who feels left out, help someone in need, and remind people that God loves them. Whenever you show kindness, care for creation, or help someone who is hurting, you become part of God’s good work in the world. You show others that something better is coming. Let us pray: Loving God, thank you for choosing us and welcoming us into your family. Help us care for your creation, become kinder people, and share hope with those around us. When life is difficult, remind us that you are with us and that something better is coming. In Jesus’ name, amen. (ChatGPT 6) Responsive Reading Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24 UMH 854 Scripture Romans 8:12-25 Sermon Creation is waiting on us to get better Something Better Is Coming Scripture: Romans 8:12–35 Romans 8 is one of the greatest chapters in the Bible. It begins with freedom and ends with assurance. It begins by declaring, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” and it concludes with the promise that nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Between those two declarations, Paul speaks honestly about sin, suffering, creation, prayer, hope, and the future. Romans 8 does not pretend that life is easy. It does not deny the pain of the present moment. Instead, it tells us that pain will not have the final word. Sin will not have the final word. Death will not have the final word. God’s love will have the final word. The message of Romans 8 in its entirety is this: Through the Holy Spirit, God is freeing us from the power of sin, adopting us into God’s family, renewing creation, helping us in our weakness, and leading us toward a glorious future from which nothing can separate us. In other words: something better is coming. We Are More Than Our Sin Paul begins this section by saying: “So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.” When Paul speaks about “the flesh,” he is not saying that our bodies are evil. He is talking about that part of human nature that resists God. He is talking about our selfishness, our pride, our greed, our fear, our anger, and our desire to place ourselves at the center of everything. Sin is not just something outside of us. Sin is a part of us. We see sin in the world, but we must also recognize it in ourselves. It is easy to identify the failures of other people. It is harder to look honestly at our own hearts. We may criticize the greed of corporations while still buying far more than we need. We may condemn the hatred in society while carrying resentment against a neighbor. We may complain about the dishonesty of leaders while making excuses for the small ways we avoid the truth. Sin is a part of us, but thanks be to God, sin is not the only thing within us. God is also at work within us. A man and his wife once pulled into a gas station to refuel their car. As the tank was being refilled, the station attendant washed the windshield. When he finished, the driver of the car said, "The windshield is still dirty. Wash it again." "Yes, sir," the attendant answered. As he scrubbed the windshield a second time, he looked closely for any bugs or dirt he might have missed. When he finished, the man in the car became angry. He rebuked the attendant again saying, "It's still dirty. Don't you know how to wash a windshield? Now do it again!" The attendant cleaned the windshield a third time, carefully looking for any place he might have missed, but he could find no messy spots anywhere. By now, the driver was fuming. He screamed, "This windshield is still filthy! I'm going to talk to your boss to make sure you don't work here another day. You are the lousiest windshield washer I have ever seen!" As the angry driver was about to get of the car, his wife reached over and removed his glasses. After carefully wiping his glasses with some tissue paper, she then put them back on his face. The driver embarrassingly slumped down into his seat as he observed a spotless windshield! Critical people view others through their own dirty glasses. The dirt on their hearts causes them to see everything from an unclean, critical perspective. They become angry at what they perceive to be dirt on other people, when in reality they are looking at others through the dirt on their own heart. Their critical spirit will cause them to continue to find fault in others until the filth in their hearts has been cleansed. (5) That is what sin is: Sin is not on the outside, it is an inner condition that causes us to see life in a distorted way. The Holy Spirit lives in us. The Spirit reminds us that we do not have to obey every selfish desire. We do not have to remain trapped in old habits. We do not have to become the worst thing we have ever thought, said, or done. Paul says, “If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” The Christian life is not about pretending that sin is absent. It is about trusting that God’s presence is greater. There is a struggle within us, but we do not struggle alone. The Spirit gives us the strength to change, to grow, to repent, and to become more like Christ. We Have Been Adopted Paul then gives us one of the most beautiful descriptions of our relationship with God: “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.” We have not received a spirit of slavery that pushes us back into fear. We have received a spirit of adoption. Through the Spirit, we cry, “Abba! Father!” Adoption means that God has chosen us. God has welcomed us. God has brought us into the family and given us a place at the table. Adoption would have been an interesting concept for Paul the Jew. In that culture, you took orphans into your home, but they still maintained their identity. In the Roman world, the child would take on the identity of the adopted father. Biological children could disown their parents, but a legal adoption was permanent. So when Paul says that we are adopted into God’s family he is saying.. We are not strangers in God’s house. We are not temporary guests who may be asked to leave at any moment. We are God’s children. Some people live as though they must spend their whole lives earning God’s love. They believe that if they pray enough, serve enough, give enough, or behave well enough, perhaps God will finally accept them. But the gospel tells us that we do not work in order to become God’s children. We work because God has already adopted us. We serve because we are loved. We forgive because we have been forgiven. We care for others because they, too, are part of the family God is gathering. And if we are children, Paul says, then we are heirs—“heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.” What an extraordinary promise! We share in the mission of Jesus. We share in his suffering, his service, and his hope. We also share in the future God is preparing. To be a joint heir with Christ means more than waiting to receive something in heaven. It means participating in Christ’s work now. God has made us partners in the work of healing, restoring, and renewing the world. We are not the Creator, but by God’s grace, we have become co-creators with Christ. We are invited to help cultivate the good future God intends for creation. Sin Wounds Creation Paul then moves from the human family to the whole created world: “We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now.” Creation is groaning. The earth groans under the burden of pollution. Rivers and oceans groan beneath waste. Forests groan as they disappear. Animals groan as their habitats are destroyed. Communities groan beneath storms, droughts, floods, extreme heat, and environmental neglect. Paul helps us see that there is a relationship between human sin and the suffering of creation. When greed becomes more important than stewardship, creation suffers. When convenience becomes more important than responsibility, creation suffers. When profit becomes more important than people, creation suffers. When we believe the world exists only for our consumption, creation suffers. The biblical stories tell us that there is a direct correlation between human sin and the condition of the world. In today's Romans text Paul joins the trajectory of human existence with all the rest of God's creation. Paul's text reminds his readers that the fate of the world and the fate of humanity have been intimately tied together since the beginning of creation. Paul reminds us that the transformation of the garden of Eden into a world of toil and sweat was, in fact, due to Adam's transgression. The perfect world God had initially created was made imperfect in order to house its now fallen, failed human inhabitants. Indeed, humanity's first toxic waste dump was the Garden of Eden - which had to be closed because human disobedience so perfectly fouled that perfect environment. From a biblical perspective, we can't escape this truth: the state of creation is intimately linked to the state of human actions and attitudes. Poisonous attitudes begat a poisoned environment. The rage of war leaves behind ravaged, savaged land. No ecosystem can remain in balance as long as the desires of humanity are imbalanced. Paul links together the fall of Adam and the consequent fall of creation with a poignant description. All creation groans, as he puts it, to be brought back into its God-created condition, its perfect relationship with human beings and the divine. All men and women who through faith have perceived the terrible brokenness that exists between God and God's children likewise groan at this brokenness of creation itself. Humanity and the whole of creation are bound together in their brokenness and are joined together as they await their final redemption and wholeness. Our redemption is tied to the redepemtion of all of creation. After reflecting on this text we read this morning, Lutheran theologian Joseph Sittler concluded that our #1 ecological mistake as Christians is to separate creation and redemption. We can no longer put nature "out there" and grace "in here." It's not immaterial whether we preserve or pillage the earth. Let me end by quoting the late Pope John Paul II. It's a summary of both our text and our homily this morning. "Our responsibility within creation and our duty toward nature and the Creator are an essential part of our faith." - "Peace with All Creation," no. 15, Origins 19, no. 28 (14 December 1998), 468. ChristianGlobe Networks, Collected Sermons, by Leonard Sweet The destruction of creation does not begin only in factories, government offices, or corporate boardrooms. It begins in the human heart. It begins with greed, selfishness, carelessness, impatience, and the belief that our choices do not affect anyone else. That is why caring for creation is about more than changing policies and practices, although those changes are important. It also requires changing people. How do we help creation? We begin by becoming better people. We become less greedy and more grateful. We become less wasteful and more responsible. We become less selfish and more concerned about our neighbors. We learn to distinguish between what we need and what we merely want. We stop treating the earth as disposable and begin treating it as a gift from God. A better world requires people with better hearts. Recycling is good, but we must also recycle our attitudes. Conservation is good, but we must also conserve compassion. Cleaning the environment is good, but we must also allow God to clean our hearts. When the Spirit transforms us, the transformation affects how we treat people, how we use resources, how we spend money, and how we care for the earth. The renewal of creation and the renewal of human character belong together. Creation Is Groaning—but It Is Not Dying Paul describes creation’s suffering as “labor pains.” That image is important. Labor pains are real, but they are not meaningless. They are pain connected to the arrival of new life. Creation is groaning, but creation is not groaning without hope. Paul says that creation itself “will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” God has not abandoned the earth. God’s plan is not simply to rescue a few souls and throw creation away. The God who looked upon creation and called it good is still working to redeem it. The earth belongs to God. Its future belongs to God. We belong to God. As children of God, we are called to live as signs of that coming renewal. Every tree planted, every river protected, every community garden tended, every resource shared, and every wasteful habit changed can become a small sign that we believe God is not finished with creation. We cannot repair everything by ourselves, but that is no excuse to do nothing. We do what we can, where we are, with what God has placed in our hands. We care for creation not because we believe we can save the world by our own power, but because we believe the world is loved by God. Saved in Hope Paul says: “For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen?” Christian hope is not wishful thinking. It is not closing our eyes to suffering and pretending everything is fine. Hope looks directly at what is wrong and still trusts that God is working. We hope for what we do not yet see. We do not yet see a world without violence, but we work for peace. We do not yet see a world without hunger, but we feed people. We do not yet see a world without racism, but we practice justice. We do not yet see the complete healing of creation, but we care for the earth. We do not yet see the fullness of God’s kingdom, but we live according to its values. Paul says that we “wait for it with patience.” Biblical patience does not mean sitting still. It means remaining faithful while we wait. It means continuing to pray, serve, love, and work even when change comes slowly. The greatest gift we have to give the world is hope for the future. Years ago, in his book Success through a Positive Mental Attitude, business writer Napoleon Hill told about a successful cosmetic manufacturer—probably Charles Revson, the founder of the Revlon cosmetic company—who decided he would retire at the age of sixty-five. Each year thereafter, his friends and former business associates gave him a birthday party and tried to find out the secret of his success; in other words, the “secret” for his special cosmetic formula. But year after year he refused, good-naturedly, to reveal his secret. “Maybe I will tell you next year,” he would say. This went on for ten years until the businessman celebrated his seventy-fifth birthday. As usual, his associates begged him to share the secret formula with them so they could continue the business after his death. Finally, he yielded to their insistence. “In addition to the things which I use which are commonly known,” he said, “there is one secret ingredient that I package with every bottle.” By this time, everyone at the party was listening with rapt attention. “What is it?” an anxious friend inquired. “Please, don’t keep us in suspense any longer.” Revson replied: “I never told a woman that my product would make her beautiful, but I always gave her hope.” “Hope,” he said, “is the magic ingredient.” (1) Well, hope is the magic ingredient—whether in life or in death, in good times or times of sorrow. The magic ingredient is the assurance that regardless of how challenging today is, God is in charge and that, as St. Paul says in Romans 8:28, “all things work to the good for those who love Him.” That’s hope. People are surrounded by reasons to give up. Some have given up on themselves. Some have given up on their families. Some have given up on the Church. Some have given up on the possibility of justice. Some have given up on the future of the earth. The Church must not become another voice of despair. We are called to announce that God is still working, grace is still available, transformation is still possible, and something better is coming. The Spirit Helps Us Sometimes the suffering around us is so great that we do not know what to say. Sometimes our personal pain is so deep that we do not even know how to pray. Paul says: “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness.” When words fail us, the Spirit prays for us “with sighs too deep for words.” There are tears that become prayers. There are groans that become prayers. There are moments of silence that become prayers. There are times when all we can say is, “Lord, help me,” and the Spirit carries even that broken prayer into the heart of God. We do not have to be strong all the time. We do not have to understand everything. We do not have to know exactly how God will bring us through. The Spirit helps us in our weakness. And then Paul gives us the familiar promise: “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” Paul does not say that all things are good. Sin is not good. Suffering is not good. Injustice is not good. The destruction of creation is not good. Paul says that God is able to work in all things and through all things for good. God can take what is broken and begin a work of healing. God can take what was intended for harm and create a testimony. God can meet us in our suffering and shape us into people who are wiser, kinder, stronger, and more compassionate. The Pain of Today Is Not the End Earlier in the passage, Paul writes: “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us.” Paul is not minimizing our pain. He knew suffering personally. He was beaten, imprisoned, rejected, threatened, and persecuted. Paul was not speaking from a comfortable distance. He was testifying from experience. He was saying that present pain is real, but it is not permanent. The pain is great, but God’s future is greater. Somebody listening today may be in pain. You may be grieving someone you love. You may be waiting for healing. You may be worried about a child. You may be struggling financially. You may be tired of seeing suffering and injustice. You may be looking at the condition of the world and wondering whether there is any reason to hope. Romans 8 answers: Yes, there is reason to hope. Our hope is not based on perfect circumstances. Our hope is based on the character of God. If God is for us, who can be against us? Who can condemn us when Christ intercedes for us? Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Not hardship. Not distress. Not persecution. Not famine. Not danger. Not death. Nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God. Give Hope to Others It is not enough for us merely to possess hope. God calls us to give hope to others. We give hope when we remind someone that failure is not final. We give hope when we visit someone who is lonely. We give hope when we feed the hungry and help the struggling. We give hope when we encourage a child. We give hope when we forgive. We give hope when we care for creation. We give hope when we stand beside those who suffer. We give hope when our words say, “God has not forgotten you,” and our actions prove that we have not forgotten them either. Hope becomes visible through people who live as though God’s future is already on the way. As God’s adopted children and co-creators with Christ, we are called to help create signs of that future in the present. We help turn neglected spaces into gardens, loneliness into community, conflict into reconciliation, despair into possibility, and suffering into service. We cannot do everything, but we can do something. We cannot fix the whole world today, but we can allow God to change us—and changed people can begin to change the world. Something Better Is Coming Romans 8 begins with no condemnation and ends with no separation. Between those two promises, creation groans, people suffer, believers struggle, and the Spirit prays. That is where many of us are living: between no condemnation and no separation. We are loved and saved, but we are still waiting. We have received God’s promise, but we have not yet seen its complete fulfillment. So we wait with hope. We work with hope. We pray with hope. We care for creation with hope. We encourage one another with hope. Sin is a part of us, but so is the Spirit of God. Suffering is present, but so is God’s promise. Creation is groaning, but new life is coming. Today’s pain is real, but it cannot compare with the glory that will be revealed. Let us become better people through the transforming power of the Spirit. Let us live as beloved children in God’s family. Let us serve as co-creators with Christ, caring for one another and for the world God made. Let us not only hold on to hope but also place hope into the hands of others. For God is with us. God is working in us. God is working through us. And by the grace of God, something better is coming. Amen. (inspired by ChatGPT 6) Song Immortal, Invisible, God only Wise UMH 103 Pastoral Prayer Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment For many families, adoption is an important part of their story. If adoption has touched your life—whether you are adopted, have welcomed a child through adoption, are part of an extended family shaped by adoption, or love someone whose story includes adoption—take a moment to reflect on what that has meant to you. At its best, adoption is a powerful expression of belonging: the promise that someone is welcomed, loved, claimed, and embraced as family. In Romans 8, we hear, “When we cry ‘Abba! Father!’ it is the Spirit bearing witness…that we are children of God…heirs…” Yes! YOU are an heir and have already received part of your inheritance from God. As people who have inherited much, we respond with gratitude! We can share our delight in our adoption by offering some of that inheritance back to the One who has claimed each one of us. With your financial gifts, your time, and the sharing of your talents, you offer from your inheritance in order to live your life fully. So let us receive our morning offering. Prayer of Thanksgiving Abba! We give thanks for the inheritance we have already received from your gracious hand. Accept these gifts as an offering to identify ourselves clearly with you. Help us use them wisely to care for this part of the Body of Christ, and for those who struggle to find food, clothing, shelter, or even a cold cup of water. AMEN (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Announcements Closing Prayer for YouTube As we go from this place, let us look for God in unexpected places and unexpected people. Let us love and serve our Lord by loving and serving those around us. Let us honor the most vulnerable and lift up the weak, rejoicing in God’s presence among us. And may the grace of Christ Jesus, the love of the Creator God, and the connecting power of the Holy Spirit accompany us all on our journeys. Amen. (Presbyterian Outlook, Gina Bairby) A Service of Farewell for Barry and Diane Oswald – see insert Community Time: Joys and Concerns Benediction Beloved, the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God. May the Spirit bless us and empower us to reveal ourselves as the children of God as we work for the flourishing of all creation. Amen. Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, January 2026. Additional Illustrations In today’s lesson, which is devoted to hope, St. Paul writes, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” Think about that for a moment. This is what hope is all about. It is the admission that the present times may not be perfect, in fact they may be heart-wrenching, but, if we trust in God, better days lie yet ahead. “Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” St. Paul knew that none of us gets through life without wrestling at some time or another with some daunting challenges. [Could someone give me an “Amen” to that?] At times, all of us will face difficult challenges. Years ago, a husband, wife, and their grown son emigrated from Sicily to southern Illinois. There both father and son found work in a coal mine. But then tragedy struck. There was an explosion in the mine. The father was killed, and the son was maimed. While he was recovering in the hospital, the young man, along with his mother, came to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior. This had such a profound effect on them that they changed their surname. The name they chose for themselves was Sperondeo. In Italian that means, “My hope is in God.” This phrase became the young man’s inspiration to complete college and graduate study and become a college professor. His name was the motto of his life—Sperondeo—“My hope is in God.” (3) Where else is such hope to be found? Do you know any other place? Government? Education? Science? None of these can reach where you hurt during dark times. Only faith in God’s promises can do that. It’s like a story that a Lutheran Pastor named Reuben Youngdahl tells. It is about a young man he met while visiting in Dublin, Ireland one summer. Youngdahl noticed this young man had on the desk in his study a plaque with two words on it. The words were “But God.” Pastor Youngdahl was so impressed by this plaque that he had one made up just like it for his own desk. Visitors to his office would ask him, “What do you mean by those two words— “But God”? He explained that in his hour of deepest need he had learned to say, “But God . . . will help.” In a moment of utter despair, he could say, “But God . . . will give me hope.” In a moment of loneliness, he could say, “But God . . . is with me.” When he felt insignificant and unwanted, it would help to repeat, “But God . . . loves me.” “That always turned the scale from despair to hope, from defeat to victory, from sin to salvation,” he reported. “But God . . . but God . . . but God . . .” (4) You see, that is much more than blind optimism that everything is simply going to work out all right. Such faith recognizes that life can often be hard—sometimes brutally hard—but if we maintain our faith, and if we will persist and not give up, God will come through for us. As long as there is hope—Christian hope—life is worth living. The late Emil Brunner once said, “What oxygen is for the lungs, such is hope for the meaning of human life.” And he was right. Really, a hope-filled life is the only life worth living. St. Paul writes, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” Do you have that kind of confidence in God? It truly is the magic ingredient that takes life to a whole new level. This whole world God made suffers because of human sin. But for those who receive God's redemptive act made personal in Jesus the Christ, there's hope. Paul envisions this hope as the first-fruit of the Spirit - a honey sweet sensation in our soul that brings the flavor of forgiveness and salvation to our lips and fills our hearts with hope. But first-fruits are also what we must give back to God. It's our way of acknowledging that all goodness and bounty in our lives come as a gracious gift from God. If we have received the first fruit of hope from the Spirit, what first-fruit can we offer back? Romans hitches our hoped-for-future to our disastrous past. The created world we live in shares in our suffering. As Christians it seems only right that we extend our hope of redemption to that creation. Christians who live in hope must in turn give hope to the created world as well. The earth isn't ours to do what as we want. The earth is the Lord's. Why isn't Christianity taking the lead to remind everyone that when God looked on everything God had made and said, "This is good," God was telling us that creation exists to bring God pleasure, and that it doesn't bring God pleasure when humans start acting like, as one writer put it, "a serial killer in Noah's ark." Creation doesn't exist alone to bring us pleasure. Creation exists primarily to bring God pleasure. And why isn't Christianity taking the lead to remind everyone that when God commissioned us to have dominion in Genesis 1:28, it doesn't mean to do what we want to do with what God has created, to treat earth, wind, sea and fire as if we owned them, but to tend and till, to care for and conserve what God created? And why isn't Christianity doing all it can to give Adam Smith's invisible hand a "green thumb" (as biologist E. O. Wilson puts it), rather than Christianity spending its time giving capitalism a middle finger? God has a green thumb. Poet Emily Dickinson called God's original creation "This Whole Experiment with Green." If God has a green thumb, why shouldn't we? And why isn't Christianity doing all it can to make red-white-and-blue more green? We sing patriotic songs like "America the Beautiful," and swear to defend America the beautiful. So why do we do so much to make the song "America the Ugly"? Why are those most dedicated to keeping America beautiful (some politicians are fond of calling environmentalists "green-green lima beans") often seen as the most unpatriotic? A "global positioning system" can tell you the fastest way to drive from Point A to Point B — which streets are one-way only, which streets to avoid due to construction or too much traffic, where to park once you get where you're going. Like a street map, it can show how the roads run north, south, east, and west; which roads are dead ends, or go over a bridge; how they curve and then straighten out again. Like the yellow pages of a telephone book, it can tell you where to find the nearest coffee shop, Chinese restaurant, or grocery store. Like a radio, it can give the latest traffic update. It even provides a bit of company in the form of an audible voice telling you where to turn right or left. For this Day Of Pentecost, our scripture text describes the Holy Spirit, who guides us as children of God. Only the Spirit's leading is not about getting from Point A to Point B in the fastest way possible. It doesn't necessarily mean hearing an audible voice, and it's not mainly about finding the right restaurant or grocery store, although it might make a difference in the way we make some of those choices, too. Instead, our scripture gives the big picture of what it means to be led by the Spirit of God. Instead of focusing more narrowly on the thousands of individual decisions we make each day, it describes more broadly a way of life. Whether we are at Cass Community, in the church, here in our living rooms, at the Knockpatrick village, sitting in our office, or working on the CCCD campus in Montego Bay, we can be living out our hope in God. We are living out our hope in God. A hope that God will redeem us, redeem the world, and make a difference in what we cannot see or hear. For God is at work in the world. Now we can be at work, too. Now we can be at work in the world. Oh, the places we’ll go to together. Amen. Prayers: Wherever we go, you are there. Dear Jesus, show us the way to go where you are leading. Help us to trust in you. Guide us to the place we can serve in your name. Bring us the courage to learn some sign language and find new people to laugh with as we expand our world. We thank you for your presence in our lives, Amen. CSS Publishing Company, Inc., The alchemy of hope: Cycle A sermons based on the second lessons for Lent and Easter, by James D. Monnett, Jr. My wife and I have three daughters and five grandchildren. (I had to tell you that.) One great model change in my life comes from a grandson. One night when he lived in California, he called me long-distance and said, "Grandpop, I want you to help me with my homework." I replied, "How are you able to do this?" He said, "My parents have to be away and they said I could call you once." We did homework together from New York to California! When I hung up, I thought, "If God gets as much joy out of our prayers as I received out of this young rascal calling me to help him with his homework, how much joy there must be in the heart of the Almighty!" Have you asked the Lord to help you with your homework recently? What I am setting before you is one word - the mode - in which you experience the changing, enriching, growing, expanding meaning of the facts. We believe by faith that this is a universe in which there is a divine Architect-Creator, a mathematical Intelligent Being, who holds it together, who redeems it, who renews it, who brings springtime after the winter, who brings renewal to the heart after the heartache, who brings us forward from medieval ages up to the Space Age and beyond that we know not what. We believe he brings us along in an orderly fashion, but we know this infinite God only in part. The teacher of a junior high class was trying to illustrate the word miracle. "Young people," he said, "Suppose I stood on the roof of a 10-story building, lost my balance and fell off. Then all of a sudden, in midair, a whirlwind swept me up and brought me safely to the ground. Now what word would you use to describe this?" After a long silence a boy raised his hand and asked, "Luck?" "True, true," replied the teacher. "It could be luck. But that's not the word I wanted. I'll repeat the story. There I am on top of the 10-story building again, and I fall. A whirlwind catches me in midair and places me safely on the ground. Think now, what word would describe the situation?" "Accident," cries out one girl. "No, no," answered the teacher. "Listen carefully for the third time. I'm on that same building, I fall and am swept to safety by a sudden whirlwind. What word would account for my safely reaching the ground?" The boys and girls shouted in unison: "Practice!" (1) There is a popular story circulating about a woman who had just learned her cancer was terminal. She invited her pastor over to help her plan the funeral. After deciding on the order of service, the woman made one final request: she wanted to be buried with a Bible in one hand and a fork in the other. The pastor couldn't hide his surprise. Why in the world would she want to be buried with a fork? The woman explained that the favorite part of any meal for her was when the hostess, while clearing away the dinner dishes, announced, "Keep your forks." That meant that there was something more coming, something special, a dessert. The dying woman wanted to remind her loved ones that she was looking forward to something more too. Some people look at Christian faith as a bitter pill they have to swallow. Mature believers recognize that it is the dessert. God loves us. Neither life nor death nor anything else in all creation can separate us from God's love. It is a gift. We only have to receive it. ONCE WE HAVE RECEIVED THAT GIFT, HOWEVER, SOMETHING INVARIABLY HAPPENS IN OUR LIFE. WE START LOOKING AT LIFE IN A DIFFERENT WAY. When we accept God's gift--the gift of God's Spirit--freely poured out on all who will receive it, we begin to see life in a different way. We start seeing possibilities we never saw before. Our bitterness is swept away and in its place we find hope for a better life. Paul preserves the Aramaic original of the word that Jesus used to address his father. Jesus didn't just call God "Father." He used the very intimate and personal word that first-century Jewish children used to call their fathers in the intimacy and familiarity of their own homes. There they called their fathers "abba." It is the equivalent of "daddy" or "papa." When Jesus dared to address God in this manner, eyebrows were raised. It caught people's attention. Who did this guy think he was to dare to talk to God like this? Did he actually think God was his papa? Did he really think he was God's child? You got it! That is exactly what he was saying! And Paul says that this same privileged status is ours. We can dare to believe and act and behave as if God was our very own daddy, which, of course, he is! Why? Because he has adopted us! There is something about adoption that is even is more powerful than actually being the biological child of a mother and father. I remember once reading a letter that a father wrote to his son on the occasion of his son's eighteenth birthday. In the face of his adolescent son's questions, doubts, and insecurities, he wanted to assure him that there was nothing wrong with being adopted. In fact, in some ways it made him more special. He pointed out that sometimes biological children come into this world unwanted. We all know about the plight of the children of single parents in our society and that so many of their children are unplanned and unwanted. Even children of two parents sometimes are unwanted. They come along at the wrong time. They weren't planned. They were "accidents," a "surprise" when mom and dad thought they were too old, an "oops" when proper precautions weren't taken. The father then goes on to assure his son that this can't be said about his son. His adopted status ought to be a source of pride and comfort. Because he was adopted, he is extra special. He became a part of his family purely because of the choice of his new parents. He was specifically and deliberately "chosen." There was no "oops," no bad timing, nothing accidental about this. This act of adoption was deliberately willed, an act of pure love, mimicking God's love for the world in Jesus Christ. With such adoption comes all the rights, privileges, and honors that belong to the biological children of the parents. Because God has adopted us, we are fully his beloved sons and daughters. Jesus is our big brother. We get to enjoy the life he lived. We get to have all the rights and privileges that he enjoyed. Martin Luther says it well in his explanation to the Introduction to the Lord's Prayer in his Small Catechism. Our Father in heaven.Our Father in heaven. What does this mean?What does this mean? Here God encourages us to believe that he is truly our Father and we are his children. We therefore are to pray to him with complete confidence just as children speak to their loving father.Here God encourages us to believe that he is truly our Father and we are his children. We therefore are to pray to him with complete confidence just as children speak to their loving father. We get to talk to God in prayer about anything, just like we would talk to our abba, our papa. Our papa treats us just like we were one of his children. That means we can count on our papa to give us whatever we need to keep on believing that God is our papa and we are his kids. Because we are his children, we get to live just like our big brother, Jesus. We, too, get to live a cross-shaped, cruciform, life. We get to be a friend of sinners and outcasts. We get to offer justice and mercy to our neighbors and this world of ours. That won't be easy. There will be suffering and pain. But, remember what Paul says. Such suffering and pain are not random or purposeless. They are the pangs of birth, the labor pains of a new life. Isn't this typical? You get up and come to church -- and on your vacation, too -- on a pleasant summer day and what is the theme? Sin. "What did the preacher talk on today, Calvin?" asked Mrs. Cooledge. "Sin," said this taciturn president. "Well what did he say about sin," she persisted. "Said he was against it." Of course, that was another time when preachers still knew the word. Have you noticed? Today, progressive preachers think more positively. Yesterday's "I'm not OK, you're not OK," has changed to "I'm OK and you're OK." Think positively, says Dr. Peale. Dr. Shuller will teach you the "Be-Happy-Attitudes." Sin is something old fashioned that we have put behind us. If it's mentioned at all from mainline, liberal pulpits, sin is always social, corporate, systemic. Sin is what we're doing in Nicaragua, or the arms race, or the CIA. That's sin; these evil people in Washington or Moscow. Sin is not us, not you or me as individuals. You and I are doing the best we can. Lack of self-esteem is our real problem, says Dr. Shuller. We think too little of ourselves. The curious thing is that all this self-affirmation and self-esteem is being preached at a time when psychology is gathering a great deal of data which suggests that Paul was right: The good that we would do, we can't. We can, in our minds, want to do right, but when it comes to actually doing what we want; we can't. "A war is going on in me!" says Paul. Since psychology helped us to explain away our sin, let's ask psychology to help us rediscover its reality. Disciples of Jesus are called to experience and to share God's grace, even in circumstances that seem to scream out a reality of hopelessness. Author and church leader Lee Strobel, in his book God's Outrageous Claims, recounts an incident from his days as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, where he helped bring to light the sometimes-deadly consequences of riding in a Ford Pinto. From time to time this compact car would burst into flames when struck from behind. One of the landmark accidents took place in northern Indiana. A Chevy van ploughed into the back of a Pinto and killed three teenage girls. Two of them burned to death within moments. The driver, an eighteen-year-old girl named Judy, was thrown clear of the accident but was burned over 95 percent of her body. Somehow she was still alive when the paramedics arrived. The doctors at the hospital where Judy was taken quickly realized that they were powerless to save her. They elected to send her by ambulance to a burn center 75 miles away so at least she might receive some comfort. A nurse agreed to ride along with her. The trip unfolded as a nightmare. Because of damage to her nerve endings Judy didn't feel much physical pain. But as the reality of her situation began to sink in, Judy was overwhelmed with anxiety and sheer emotional anguish. She grasped that these were her last hours. She was separated from family and friends. She sobbed to the nurse beside her, "I'm not ever going to have children, am I?" What words of hope could possibly comfort this teenage girl? Nothing seemed to penetrate Judy's personal agony -- until she mentioned the name of Jesus. Discovering then that both she and Judy were Christians, the nurse came alongside her and provided the one medication that quieted her fears. From memory she recited these verses from Isaiah 43: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; When you walk through fire you shall not be burned, And the flame shall not consume you, For I am the Lord your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior. Strobel writes that it was in the hearing of those words that Judy slowly took on a calmness and courage that lifted her through the last difficult hours of her life. Once again she grasped that she belonged to God, and that no fire is able to destroy what really matters. If we belong to God, then God's gift to us is a living hope. Through the Spirit we grasp whose we are. No frailties in the present can keep us from the Lord, and no fears about the future can prevent God from blessing us. Most importantly, we discover that whatever power we have to never, never, never give up is ours only because God will never, never, never give up on us. CSS Publishing Company, Sermons for Sundays after Pentecost, by Glenn McDonald Have you ever done anything really foolish? I mean, something so stupid that years later you still cringe when you think about it. Dr. James Dobson tells of a friend of his during their days in medical school. One day this man was walking across campus laden with books and briefcase. He passed by a fast food stand, and ordered something to eat and a milkshake to wash it down. He balanced it all on top of his briefcase and began looking for an empty table at which to sit. While looking, the milkshake got the better of him, and he bent down without looking in order to take a sip from the straw. The straw missed his mouth and ended up in his nose. Embarrassed, but not at a loss, he thought that, if he straightened up, the straw would stay in the shake. But when he lifted his head, the straw came out of the shake and remained in his nose, dripping the milkshake down the front of his suit. In a moment, all his confidence evaporated. (1) Have you ever done anything that made you fell like an absolute Dork, as the kids say? Welcome to the human race. Make yourself at home. You are among family. And I have some Good News for you. That's why you came this morning, isn't it--to hear some Good News? Well, I have some really Good News for you. It comes to us from Romans, from the writings of St. Paul. He tells us that "those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God." Did you get that? If you are led by the Spirit of God, you are a son or daughter of God. We may feel like a dork, a nerd, a twerp, a doo-fus, at times. But, if Christ lives within us, the scripture assures us that we are children of the Most High God. Now, what does it mean to be children of God? First of all, it means that we can walk with confidence. That makes sense, doesn't it? If we are children of the King, we don't have to fear anybody or any situation. When Carl Erskine, a former pitcher with the LA Dodgers, first came to the big leagues, he was asked a question by owner Branch Rickey. Rickey asked, "Do you go to church?" Carl said that he did. Rickey responded, "I ask that question of every young man that I sign. The reason that I ask it is that I've found if a person will discipline his life to sit in a place of worship and get his spiritual values in place, that person will develop a quiet confidence that he cannot get anywhere else." St. Paul writes, "For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship." (v. 15) When Ernest Hemingway was struggling to make it as an author, he had a stroke of bad luck. He lost a suitcase containing all his manuscripts--manuscripts he had been working on for months and which he had been planning to publish in a book. He couldn't conceive of redoing his work. He shared his predicament with his friend, poet Ezra Pound. Pound called it a stroke of good fortune! Pound assured Hemingway that when he rewrote the stories, he would forget the weak parts. The new version would be better than the old. He encouraged Hemingway to start over with a sense of optimism and confidence. Hemingway did rewrite the stories and eventually became one of the major figures in American literature. (2) All Hemingway needed was to hear someone say that he could do it. That is all we need sometimes in our lives. Our problems loom so large. But they are not insurmountable. All we need is the confidence to tackle them. All great people have faced times when their confidence waned. And we have a great inheritance. That's the second thing that it means to be children of God. Paul writes, "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory." (16-17, NIV) A 6th grade teacher posed the following problem to one of her classes: "A wealthy man dies and leaves ten million dollars. One-fifth is to go to his wife, one-fifth is to go to his son, one-sixth to his butler, and the rest to charity. Now, what," she asked her class, "does each get?" After a very long silence in the classroom, Little Johnny raised his hand. With complete sincerity in his voice, Little Johnny answered, "A lawyer!" Good answer. Where there is a will, there is a lawsuit waiting to happen. Inheritance can be a complicated matter in this world. Families have become split fighting over a wealthy estate. I hope each of you has a will, by the way. You can save your family lots of needless grief by simply planning ahead and taking care of necessary business. Inheritance in this world can be complicated. But in the kingdom of God, inheritance is simple--those who possess the Spirit of God get it all--all God has to give. It's like a man named Tom Stonehill who was speeding through a small town one night, looking for a public restroom. Finally, he came across a funeral home. Tom used the facilities, and then paid his respects to the deceased. The funeral director, spotting Tom, insisted that he sign the guest register. Tom thought it was a lot of trouble to go through just to use the bathroom, but he did it anyway. A few weeks later, Tom got a call from a lawyer in this small town. It turns out that Tom had visited the funeral home on the night that the town's richest citizen was being laid to rest. The rich man had no family or friends. In his will, this man had stipulated that whomever came to his funeral would inherit his fortune. Tom's was the only name in the guest register that night, so he received the full inheritance. (5) You and I are in that same fortunate situation. All we did was receive Christ into our life. Now everything that God has is ours. We are children of God, Paul tells us. We can have confidence. And we can look forward to a great inheritance. Just as importantly, we have a great opportunity. An opportunity to make a difference in the world. An opportunity to stand in that long line of saints who served Christ with dignity and determination even under tremendous hardship. Paul writes, "Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory." What does it mean "to share in his sufferings . . . "? It means that as followers of Christ we have the opportunity to walk in Christ's footsteps in service to the world. This may or may not mean "suffering" as we generally mean suffering. Let's face it, most of us will never be crucified for following Christ. We may lose friends, we may get thrown out of the country club, we may have to take a stand that we would rather not take, we may have to put a few more dollars in the offering plate each week--but suffer? I guess it depends how you define the word. We are children of God, Paul tells us. We can have confidence. And we can look forward to a great inheritance. Just as importantly, we have a great opportunity. An opportunity to make a difference in the world. An opportunity to stand in that long line of saints who served Christ with dignity and determination even under tremendous hardship. Paul writes, "Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory." What does it mean "to share in his sufferings . . . "? It means that as followers of Christ we have the opportunity to walk in Christ's footsteps in service to the world. This may or may not mean "suffering" as we generally mean suffering. Let's face it, most of us will never be crucified for following Christ. We may lose friends, we may get thrown out of the country club, we may have to take a stand that we would rather not take, we may have to put a few more dollars in the offering plate each week--but suffer? I guess it depends how you define the word. In the country of Thailand is a statue of the Buddha that is ten feet tall and made of solid gold. Estimates of its worth range around $200 million. But for many centuries, no one knew this statue's worth. When the Burmese invaded Thailand many centuries ago, it is believed that the Thai villagers covered the Buddha statue with layers of mud so that the Burmese wouldn't steal it. It wasn't until 1957, when workers tried to move the statue to a new location, that the mud began to fall away and reveal the true nature of the statue. For centuries, no one had known its true value. (8) Within the clay of your life and mine is a better person, a more complete person, that the world still has not seen, not in its perfect fulfillment. We are more than we appear--and one day we will be like Jesus. Even if sometimes we have straws dangling from our noses, we never lose sight that we are sons and daughters of God.

Changing the Rules

Genesis 25:19-34 Changing the Rules 7th Sunday after Pentecost Year A Prelude Greeting Call to Worship Your grace is a lamp for our hearts, O God. Light our way through the shadows of this world. When we struggle with questions and doubts, tell us your stories of hope and grace. When we are about to wander off into the wilderness, show us the paths to your peace and joy. (Lectionary Liturgies, Thom Shuman) Invocation God who gathers us together, we delight to be in community with you and one another. Let your word be proclaimed in truth. Let us burst into songs that reflect the depths of our spirits. May our prayers be formed in your name and granted by your wisdom. May we know you, Divine Mystery, and ourselves better and deeper because we have entered your presence as a community of faithful, questioning, and hope-seeking participants in your kindom. Amen. (United Church of Christ, Cheryl Lindsay) Song Thy Word is a Lamp UMH 601 A Sermon for all Ages Children's Sermon: "God Has Enough Love for Everyone" Scripture: Genesis 25:19-34 Object Lesson: Two toy cars (or stuffed animals) and a small gift box Good morning, boys and girls! Today I brought two toys with me. (Hold up the two toys.) Let's pretend these are two brothers. Can anyone tell me if you have a brother or sister? (Allow a few responses.) Now, here's another question. Have you ever argued with your brother or sister? Maybe you argued about who gets the front seat in the car. Maybe who gets the biggest cookie. Maybe whose turn it is to play with a favorite toy. Brothers and sisters don't always get along, do they? In today's Bible story, we meet two brothers named Jacob and Esau. They were twins! But even before they were born, they were pushing and bumping each other. As they grew up, they became very different people. Esau loved hunting outside, and Jacob liked staying closer to home. One day Esau came home hungry, and Jacob had made some delicious stew. Instead of being kind to his brother, Jacob asked Esau to give him something very important in exchange for a bowl of soup. The brothers were thinking mostly about themselves instead of loving each other. Have you ever wanted something so badly that you forgot to be kind? We all do that sometimes. (Hold up the gift box.) This gift box reminds me of something important. Sometimes we think that if someone else gets something good, there won't be enough left for us. But God's love isn't like cookies in a cookie jar. God's love never runs out! There is enough love, enough grace, enough forgiveness, and enough blessings for everyone. Jacob didn't have to trick his brother because God already had a plan for his life. Esau didn't have to make a quick decision just because he was hungry. He could have trusted God to take care of him. Sometimes we get jealous when someone else gets attention, wins a prize, or gets to do something special. But God reminds us that He has a special plan for every one of us. When we trust God, we don't have to fight to be first. We don't have to be jealous. We don't have to compare ourselves with others. Instead, we can celebrate each other, help each other, and remember that every person is loved by God. The next time you argue with your brother, sister, or friend, stop and ask yourself: "Can I trust God instead of trying to get my own way?" When we trust God, He helps us choose kindness over fighting and love over jealousy. Let's pray. Prayer: Dear God, Thank You for loving each one of us. Help us not to be jealous or selfish. Teach us to be kind to our brothers, sisters, and friends. Help us trust that You have a wonderful plan for each of our lives. Thank You for loving us more than we can imagine. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. (ChatGPT) Responsive Reading Psalm 119:105-112 UMH 840 Passing of the Peace Prayer for illumination Holy Creator, the earth is yours, and all that is in it. We give you thanks for the beauty of the earth, for the creatures that fill it, and for your providence, which stands beneath and above and within it all. Now grant us hearts open to your grace, eyes open to your wonders and ears open to your Holy Word. Let your Holy Spirit dwell with us, that we may be renewed in our commitment to the way, the truth and the life of Jesus Christ. Amen. (Presbyterian Outlook, Aaron Shepherd) Scripture Genesis 25:19-34 Sermon Changing the Rules Jesus tells us that the first be last and that the last shall be first. As disciples of Christ we are told to celebrate the great reversal of life. For many of us, it is the only way that we will get ahead, if God’s grace turns the tables. Even though Jesus teaches us this principle, it is older than him. As a matter of fact, his mother Mary says these exact words when she learns that she will become pregnant with Jesus. She celebrates that the first will be last and the last shall be first. She says that those who are rich will be pulled down, and those who are struggling will be lifted up. Life does not always go as expected. The people who get ahead in this world do not get ahead in God’s world. Life has a way of helping us out. The bible has always told us that God favors those on the bottom, the underdog, the one least expected to succeed. I think we can all relate to being the underdog. We can all celebrate grace in our lives. Unfortunately, we tend to associate grace with God and the old Testament with the law. Yet this important concept goes all the way back to our story today. The story of Isaac’s twins, Jacob and Esau. Esau the hairy one was still the oldest by just a few seconds. His brother Jacob was born grabbing his brother’s ankles – he spent the rest of his life grabbing a hold of his older brother’s life. Even in the womb these 2 brothers fought. They brought a conflict into the world that many say continues even today. This story is important – it is called the reversal of the primogeniture. Primogeniture is just a fancy way of saying that the first son inherits most of his father’s money, title and life. The biblical stories were all about establishing order and the Jewish law. This order, was just how things were done, you didn’t question it, you just knew your place in life. So far in Genesis, we have heard of the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Neither of them were oldest brothers, yet they were the ones who carried on the promises of God into modern times. This is the story of the promise, the order and the law. But it is also the story of how grace works in our lives, our family and in history. In life the only this that you can expect – is the unexpected. In the bible stories it is usually the underdog, the unexpected, that God’s grace works through. Jacob the grabber was the underdog of the story – but he was far from nice. He was a trickster who had to connive for everything that he achieved in life. Paul, the greatest missionary of the Christian era, once remarked that God doesn't always use the wisest, strongest and most moral people to bring his message. Instead God uses the foolish, the weak and the lowly -- just to prove a point (1 Corinthians 1:27-29). That truth certainly holds when it comes to those chosen by God as the patriarchs of ancient Israel. God works through us, in spite of us and even on our behalf. God works in spite of our drama. There is just as much drama in the bible as any soap opera on television. We each have flaws but we are a vital part of the story. Just as each person in this story was a part of the drama. Rebekah didn’t really want kids. She went through 20 years of marriage with children. When she finally got pregnant, it wasn’t one it was twins. She had a very difficult pregnancy. When the twins were born she favored on over the other. She manipulated their whole lives, so that her favorite would come out ahead. Isaac was blind, but he was also spiritually blind. He let his son’s live life with no supervision. Jacob had no right to belittle his brother over a meal intended for the whole family. Esau – gave up his birthright for a meal. He was so entrenched in survival mode that he totally lost sight of the future. Jacob was a trickster. He had not concept of trusting God. He thought he has to outthink everyone to get what he wanted. He lived his whole life looking over his shoulder – even as an adult – he did not trust his relatives. The interesting thing is – God has no part in this story. God is silent in the midst of all of this. In earlier stories, God speaks clearly to tell people what to do. In this story there is nothing. And yet when we read it today, we can see clearly that grace permeates the whole story. The first becomes last and the last becomes first. In spite of the drama, all a part of God’s plan. Jacob grabbed his brother’s birthright. I think at some point we have played a part of each of the characters. Who needs soap operas when you have life, family and church members. But the lesson for us is that in our relationships with one another, to remember our relationship with God. Other lessons – in times of barronness and the feeling that God has forgot us – be careful what you ask for. And be prepared for the drama that comes with it. It is ok to be hungry – just stay hungry for the right things. Hunger for righteousness, for God for grace. Don’t let our hunger rob us of our trust in God’s promises. A minister had a conversation with a fellow in his late 30s who expressed concern about his inability to earn enough money to support his family adequately. "I dropped out of college to get this lousy job. If only I had finished school, my life would be so different. This job has no future." That fellow's lack of present discipline cost him dearly. He sold his birthright for a bowl of soup. That happens regularly in a multitude of ways. Without present discipline, future possibilities are sacrificed. Never sell yourself short. You have enormous potential. We can be grateful that we all inherited the birthright form Jacob, we are all children of God. Like many people, Esau mistook the difference between price and value. Price is what you pay for something. Value is what it's worth. A long time ago, Archbishop Taylor is reported to have said something to the effect, "Life is a display window in a store in which some mischievous person has gotten in overnight and changed all the price tags so that the cheap things are priced quite highly, while the truly valuable things are priced quite cheaply." Therein lies a wonderful lesson. Your birthright is the same. You are the loved child of God. You are worthwhile. Don't relinquish that gift. Circumstances may not be easy. You may have grown up in a dysfunctional home -- like Esau. You may not be a particularly gifted person -- like Esau. Others may take advantage of you -- as they did Esau. Your mother may not like you. Rebekah didn't like Esau. You may encounter one problem right after another -- as did Esau. But you are God's loved child. You are worthwhile. That is your birthright. You can rise above anything. Believe that and live as though you believe it. Finally, be grateful for grace. Many of those strict rules that serve a few and oppress many are still in effect today. Those rules don’t have the final word in life. In history, Jacob became the hero, but I think Esau was also a hero. The story says that he despised his inheritance. It is interesting that if the oldest inherited 50% of his fathers wealth, then Jacob would have gotten the other 50% anyway. But for Esau, inheritance meant nothing without his brother. Both twins went on to have big families. For centuries the Edomites and the Israelites lived side by side. Sometime peacefully, sometimes not. Eventually after the temple was destroyed, the Jews conquered the Edomites and forced them to convert to Judaism. Today they are an integrated part of Israel. Today it is Jacob’s story that remains. Jacob, who was renamed Israel later in life realized that in spite of all of his conniving, he still needed God. And so do we. Our only hope comes from the fact that he who calls us never said, "Be certain that your lives are pure and spotless and your motives beyond reproach, and then you can come and follow Me." If he had, there could be no followers. Most of us can identify with one or the other of these brothers; occasionally, we might even be able to identify with both. Our part, in the whole process of growing in grace, is to recognize our lives are tainted, we are saved by God's grace alone, and - like the sons of Isaac - though we might be dominated by different kinds of sins, none of us can boast of our superior moral character. In our better moments, that realization has a beneficial effect on us, because it helps us to recognize the power and the glory and the redemption of the world are not ours, never ours, but his, always his. Yet, as in the case of Jacob, he chooses to use such flawed instruments to work out his purposes. If we choose to follow him, even though we are weak, half-hearted, and of little faith, he will put us to work for him. And such is his love, his ingenuity, and his power, that even such feeble witnesses as we can be used to lead others to him. CSS Publishing, Lima, Ohio, There is a poem that says To live above with those we love, Well, that will be glory. To live below with those we know, Well, that’s another story. If we plan to live above with those we love Well, here’s the rest of the story. We must live below with those we know Empowered by God’s grace and glory. Thank God for grace and glory. Let us pray……… Song Hymn of Promise UMH 707 Pastoral Prayer Holy God, you are a mystery hidden beyond all sense and understanding, yet you are as near to us as our very breath. As we breathe this word of prayer together, allow your Holy Spirit to enter into the deepest ground of our being, and bind us as one body with you and all the communion of the faithful in every time and place. Lord, we live in a time of great struggle: of nation against nation, of faction and faction, party against party, neighbor against neighbor. So many struggle to put food on the table, or keep a roof over their head, or to provide care to those they love. Meet us in the struggle, and comfort us with your quiet courage to struggle on. Holy Jesus, you know us by name; hear us now as we name those who need your tender care. (Here, the worship leader may add prayer concerns and joys from the community, being sure to address them by name[first name only is suggested].) God, your thoughts are not our thoughts, and your ways are not our ways, yet we abide in your peace for you have given it freely to us. Loosen our anxiously tightened hearts; open our fearfully clenched hands; shake us out of our screen-induced reveries. Let us see the world with a new vision: through the eyes of faith, let us perceive your way of justice in places of injustice. Let us recognize the humanity in those who are treated inhumanely. Let us know that you are God alone, and that in serving you, we are made stronger. Bless these prayers, and those offered in the silence of our hearts, and receive them with grace. (Presbyterian Outlook, Aaron Shepherd) Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment In Matthew 13, we hear Jesus’ telling of the parable of the sower and an explanation of the meaning behind the parable. Using everyday language which could be easily understood by those who planted and waited eagerly for the harvest, Jesus uses familiar images to inspire his disciples to be good soil which bears fruit. How do we see and understand these images today? Some of us may find we don’t actually hear or understand anything at all about God’s Realm…like seed scattered on a hard path. Some of us may feel excited as we experience worship, but as soon as we walk out the door, our minds and hearts are focused somewhere completely removed from what we’ve heard or experienced…like seed unable to root into the ground. Yet others find their energies completely absorbed by everyday cares and concerns…like seed in the thorns. However, some of us are like good soil, allowing Good News to take root and flower into lives of justice, love and compassion. When THAT happens, we’re energized to share our time, our talents and yes, even our treasure. Today, I invite you to make an offering. We’re eager to turn your gifts into ministry, so let your desires to work, to lead, to pray, to pay, let your gifts become part of nurturing not only your life but the life of this congregation! Joyfully, let’s share what we’ve been given as we receive our morning offering. Prayer of Thanksgiving Loving God, We freely offer these gifts, eager to be part of your beloved Realm on earth. Accept our finances and the time and talents we offer, eager to translate what’s here into a harvest which is 30, 60 or 100 times greater than what is before us today. In joyful anticipation, we give thanks! AMEN (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Announcements Sending Prayer for YouTube Go forth as God's people. We will sow seeds of love and joy in the world. Go forth as Christ's true friends. We will sow seeds of justice and hope in oppression-strewn paths. Go forth as the Spirit's love. We will sow seeds of peace and reconciliation in every corner of creation. (c) Thom M. Shuman Community Time – Joys and Concerns Benediction May the Spirit who dwells in you bless you with open minds to receive God’s wisdom, open hearts to follow God’s guidance, and open doors that we may together build God’s kingdom of life and peace on earth as it is in heaven. Amen. Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, January 2026. Additional Illustrations But first let me say a word about the birthright itself. In the Hebrew tradition, a birthright was really the right of the first-born son. It included holding “a position of honor as head of the family and a double share of the inheritance.” In this particular case, one would assume it also meant inheriting the promise made to Abraham of a great nation and of a new land. So this was no small thing that Esau traded away in a matter of minutes -- and all for a bowl of lentils! Why did he do so? The easy answer is that he was just stupid. He did not understand the value of the birthright and so he was easily tricked out of it by a cunning younger brother. Jesus evidently was aware of the “birthright blues” syndrome. He even dedicated an entire parable to speak to it. You do remember the story about the talents, don’t you? The master called his servants together and to one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one. When he returned to receive back the money he had entrusted to them, the ones with two and five talents had used them wisely and doubled their worth, but the one who had only one talent had buried it in the ground. If you ask me, he had a bad case of the “birthright blues.” He was ashamed of what had been given to him. He treated it as if it had little value at all. The master was very angry with this ungrateful servant! But I have to admit, it is very easy to slip into those “birthright blues.” It is very easy to feel sorry for oneself. It is very easy to find others who receive “more” or “better.” So when we stand next to someone with a better body, a better brain, a prettier face, why not succumb to a little “birthright blues?” And why not follow Esau’s example? Why not misuse what we have been given? Why not settle for the moment instead of waiting for a future payoff? Why not take something that God gave as special and treat it as though it were worth nothing? This human dilemma is why this Old Testament lesson is so important to us and so relevant. It asks us if we join Esau in hating our birthright. It asks us if we are willing to settle for the moment, if we treat cheaply what has great value, if we pity ourselves when we have been given much. Then, as Buechner would say, "However, if tragedy is inevitable, comedy is unforeseeable. Esau valued his birthright cheaply and paid a high price for a bowl of lentil soup. When you see someone driving a $40,000 car, but they tell you they don't have time to spend with their children or their spouse, you're talking to someone who has sold his birthright for a bowl of stew. When somebody tells you that they don't have the time or the desire to take care of their health--they're too busy to exercise or eat right--you're talking to someone who has sold her birthright for a bowl of stew. When somebody tells you they don't have time for the things of God--to read their Bible or to be in worship--you're talking to someone who has sold his birthright for a bowl of stew. Martha and Mary, Samson, David, Esau –these are all stories of distraction. It is not always by a conscious sin that we turn away from God, but more often from the simple things in everyday life that at the time feel more important than worship, more important than prayer. They make us anxious. They make us turn away. It is in the moment of turning away that we lose sight of God. The word “despised” (bazah) as in “Esau despised his birthright” means to dis-esteem, to scorn, to be reckless or careless with, to disdain.* The birthright of Esau is a sacred right to bear or carry the covenant forward. But Esau doesn’t not seem to care much about that. He easily gives away that honor with God in order to seek that “red stuff.” Whether red stew or vegetables of the field or earth, the word adom (red stuff), Edom (to boil, to act presumptuously) is related also to the word adama. Esau is concerned with the things of the world, the things he can sensorily know. He is therefore easily deceived. Esau came in from the “field” exhausted and was distracted by both his exhaustion and the smell of Jacob’s stew. He was reckless with his right to God’s covenantal line and therefore lost it.** The “deception” later carried out by mother and son Jacob was therefore not a deception but the carrying out of prophecy. The metaphor of “stew” is wonderful in its link to edom (boiling over) and the plot cooked up by Jacob’s mother. As the stew boils, so too does the plot, as prophecy is fulfilled. There are five more verbs that report that rest of Esau's behavior in this incident. They are ate, drank, rose, departed, and despised. The first four tell us that he did not savor his costly meal; he just shoveled it in and left. The last verb, "despised," is the narrator's comment on Esau's awful decision. In trading off his valuable birthright for a meal — and a pretty ordinary one at that — he, in effect, despised his birthright, treated it as though it wasn't worth much. There is a Yiddish folk expression that comes out of this biblical story. When someone is rude at the table or just "stuffs his face," it is said pejoratively that he "eats like Esau."2 In the eighth chapter of the letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul describes his own experience of coming into relationship with God, and also the relationship with God into which we can come. The chapter starts with the words, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). Paul goes on to talk about discovering that we are beloved children of God and about living in a growing, life-shaping relationship with God. And he ends by saying that nothing in the whole creation can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. If we can find our way into that kind of a relationship with God, we will have a new confidence in our own personhood and that can change a lot of things in our lives. It can enable us to deal constructively with conflicts by claiming God's assurance for ourselves and by sharing it with others. That kind of affirmation of personhood can make a difference. We can imagine that it could have made a difference if both Isaac and Rebecca had made a conscious effort to affirm the unique personhood of both of their sons. Could it be that the first step in the resolution of our conflicts is to find our way into that wholeness that takes away our vulnerability? Could it be that the second step is to affirm the personhood of the other so that he or she can also gain the freedom that comes with identity and security? Of course, that will not solve all of our problems and make all of our conflicts go away. But it will set us free to do the hard work of resolving conflicts. The play, 1776, dramatizes the meetings of the Second Continental Congress that eventually produced the Declaration of Independence that made this country a separate nation. The play does a great job of laying bare all of the different kinds of conflict that existed between the people who were delegates to the conference. There were personality differences, differences in disposition, regional prejudices, conflicting economic interests, and differences in personal ambitions. At times, it seemed that the conflicts would prevent the congress from taking any decisive action. But eventually, through long and painful processes, the conflicts were worked through. The Declaration of Independence was signed, and a new nation was born. The story of Jacob and Esau eventually had a happy ending. Jacob lived away from his family for years and learned a lot through interactions with God and with life. The Bible tells us his story. It doesn't tell us much about what was going on in Esau's life at the time, but he must have been doing some learning, too. Finally, Jacob returned to his homeland bringing with him the family and servants and possessions that he had gained. As he approached the border of his homeland, he learned that Esau was coming to meet him leading a large company of men. At first, it seemed that the stage was set for a battle -- or a massacre. But when Jacob and Esau finally met, they fell into an embrace and established a relationship that enabled them to live together in peace. They had both learned a lot during their time of estrangement. We can learn it, too. ________________________________________ 1. Thomas A. Harris, I'm OK, You're OK (New York: Avon, 1967). CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Sermons for Sundays after Pentecost (First Third): Getting in Touch with God, by James L. Killen Esau lost sight of the long-term goals of life under the pressure of present pressing physical needs. He gave up the lasting values to satisfy the present posing need. He traded off a kind of family last will and testament promised to the older son - for a bowl of stew. We cannot walk away from our crossroads of life, but we can face them courageously through prayer, faith, compassion, impartial love of our fellow human beings, and personal esteem. Always walking in the strength of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob we find our way in his Son, Jesus Christ, who said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." CSS Publishing, Lima, Ohio, They, Isaac and Rebekah, were at one of their crossroads. There was no child; what should be done? First, it is notable that this family possessed some qualities which are just as valuable in today’s family: • A strong prayer life • Faith and trust in the Lord • Compassion for each family member • Impartiality toward each person • A sense of self-esteem and respect for each other • Assistance so that the child might have a meaningful vocation Isaac, as husband, showed commendable reactions. He was sensitive to his wife’s feelings; he was concerned for her because of her inability to become pregnant and therefore, multiply and help people the earth. Consider our scripture lesson for this morning which concerns the brothers Jacob and Esau, children of Isaac. Unfortunately, people still do that sort of thing. You are, after all, a loved child of God. That is your birthright and it comes with enormous possibility. Unfortunately, tomorrow's potential doesn't have much present market value. One of life's most demanding skills is learning to stay hungry today in order to realize tomorrow's possibilities. As much as we might like it otherwise, everything in this life doesn't happen when we want it to happen. Learn to stay hungry in the pursuit of the worthwhile. Accept that you are not going to fulfill every material and professional goal immediately. Understand that most things worth accomplishing take time -- many times they take decades. Learn to stay a little hungry. It can make such a difference in your life. For one thing, stay hungry for knowledge. In fact, develop a deep hunger for knowledge. Too many people want to quit learning when they reach a certain age. Don't do that. Keep on thinking. As the poet plans his life, Let me die thinking. Let me fare forth still with an open mind, Fresh secrets to unfold, new truths to find. My soul undimmed, alert, no questions blinking. Let me die thinking.1 Learn to stay hungry, not only for information, but for God. Unlike other institutions, we never graduate from Sunday school because we never learn all we need to know about our faith. Never let your beliefs harden to concrete. Be open to grow in your faith. You never know when God is going to confront you with a new idea and a new set of circumstances. When that happens, your faith can be stretched to such new limits it can never shrink back to the same size it was before. Stay hungry for God. Staying hungry now leaves us open to future possibilities. Develop a deep hungering for life. Remember this truth: the best time in your life is wherever you are right now. After all, today is the only day of your life over which you have any say. Therefore, believe today the best and make the best of today. Life will, however, get even better wherever it takes you tomorrow, if you continue to believe that possible. God has created us in such a way that every age has its special problems and its special joys. God gives us the strength to deal with the problems as we encounter them. He also provides the grace to make the most of the joys. Don't wallow in guilt over yesterday. It is forgiven. Don't worry about the darkness of what is to come. There will be light enough to get through. Live in the fullness of today and stay hungry for tomorrow. What a difference that attitude can make. Having your life unfold day by day like a beautiful flower is your God-given birthright. Don't sell it for cabbage soup. Develop a deep hungering for life. Remember this truth: the best time in your life is wherever you are right now. After all, today is the only day of your life over which you have any say. Therefore, believe today the best and make the best of today. Life will, however, get even better wherever it takes you tomorrow, if you continue to believe that possible. God has created us in such a way that every age has its special problems and its special joys. God gives us the strength to deal with the problems as we encounter them. He also provides the grace to make the most of the joys. Don't wallow in guilt over yesterday. It is forgiven. Don't worry about the darkness of what is to come. There will be light enough to get through. Live in the fullness of today and stay hungry for tomorrow. What a difference that attitude can make. Having your life unfold day by day like a beautiful flower is your God-given birthright. Don't sell it for cabbage soup. Because Esau couldn't wait for dinner, the history of Israel is traced to Jacob. In many respects, it is a sad, sad story. Obviously, Esau was no rocket scientist. Jacob constantly took advantage of him. Physically he never made it as a male model. His entire body was covered with thick, red hair. I'm sure the kids in school constantly tormented him about that. His mother liked his brother best. This kid Esau had some serious problems. He had every reason to be a miserable failure in life. Surely any failure he experienced could be attributed to circumstances beyond his control. ________________________________________ 1. "Let Me Die Thinking," Anonymous. CSS Publishing, Tenders of the Sacred Fire, by R. Robert Cueni The story begins before our text, in the dim days of primal history, with a promise of God. Before there was Jacob, there was a promise. God told Abraham that a great family, more numerous than the stars of heaven, would arise out of his poor octogenarian loins. From Abraham and Sarah came Isaac and Isaac married Rebekah. But not yet a family. Rebekah could not have children. How then the promise to make a family? Rebekah's barrenness is not a problem of gynecology but of theology. How then the promise? How can God be faithful when there is no child, therefore no future? Will God keep the promise? Isaac prays to God for a child. And with that prayer (people, be careful when you pray!), the trouble begins. "Rebekah conceived," and even in her womb, there was trouble. There, in the mysterious uterine darkness, there is conflict, for there is not one but two fetuses in the womb and they are already in dark struggle. Rebekah feels the conflict even before the children are born. Feeling the rumblings within she exclaims, "If motherhood is this, why do I live?" (verse 22). She demands a refund from her Lamaze Classes. "I thought you said this was going to be painless!" Rebekah inquires of the Lord. The Lord explains, "At first I thought I'd just bless you with a child. Then I decided, while I was at it, to give you twins, just to make it interesting. Not just two boys, two whole nations in your womb, struggling. You thought this birth was a little something sweet to comfort you and the old man in your autumn years? No, I'm doing something cosmic here, big. That kick you just felt was me, kicking at the door of the future of the world!" And Rebekah says, "This is your idea of a blessing?" There is no such thing as "painless birth," particularly if that birth be a gift of God. Sermon point one (write this down): The promises of God, paradoxically, involve pain. So sermon point two: The promises of God subvert the older order. Point one: The promises of God involve pain. A major source of the pain is that God's promises invariably involve the subversion of the way things are in order to create the way things, by God, will be. No social convention was more dear to the people of Jacob and Esau's day than the right of primogeniture. The right of the firstborn ensured order, stability in the Near Eastern world. You knew your place from the day you were born. First born son gets it all. Second born gets leftovers. Neat. Clean. Orderly. It was a secure, stable "Ozzie and Harriet" world where father knows best, Mom is a bit mushy in the head but at least she's at home in the kitchen, and older brother David is thoughtful and stable while little brother Ricky is unpredictable but that's 0.1(. since David is going to inherit it all in the end anyway. Fixed at birth.·Fate determined in utero by the color of your skin, or your gender, or your parent's economic level, the order of birth. It's a story about getting mixed up in our conventions--and destabilizing us in the process. In Rebekah's womb, early, in the primal darkness, cosmic, international purposes are being worked out. In the clash of two all too typical brothers, God is dismantling conventional systems of power distribution. So we find ourselves in the story, surprised as Esau, when little brother Jacob clutches our heel. Is there anyone here who cannot identify with the once self-assured nation, planning to use the same power that our forebears enjoyed, shocked to wake up from our national stupor of instant material gratification to find little brother, once a nobody nation, with the economic birthright that we always thought was ours? Is there a divine upsetting of our arrangements in such a way that, as one has said, the "first shall be last and the last first" (Luke 13:30)? Is there some force behind the lives of ordinary people of the story, one who has chosen, "what is low and despised in the world to bring to nothing the things that are?" To be continued... Duke University, Duke Chapel Sermons, by Will Willimon