Rust Memorial United Methodist Church
Christ the King Sunday
November 21, 2010
Colossians 1:11-20
Luke 23: 33-43
Christ the King
Year C
We don’t like being told what to do
Most of us are hardheaded, we don’t like to be told what to do. We like to deny any type of authority. we like our freedom. We want to be in control of our lives. We soon forget that it is our need to be free and do what we want that gets us in trouble. The less we respect the power of authority, the longer it takes us to realize that we are never free. We have to be a slave to something. Either it is something or someone who cares for us, or who doesn’t. Someone or something that has our bet interest at heart or not. Somone is always in control – aware of what it is.
Harriet Tubman – who said that she freed thousands of slaves – could have freed more if they knew that they were slaves. What is it that we are a slave to – who is the ultimate authority in our lives.
Who is Jesus for us
Jesus Christ should be the ultimate authority for us in our lives. Who is Jesus for us?
Colossians says
13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
The Supremacy of the Son of God
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Last sermon
If I had one last sermon to preach. The sermon to summarize everything. The sermon to say all there is to say about Jesus
What would it say
What would it address
What prayers would it have for myself and the world?
What bible verse would I use?
What Questions would it address
Who or what rules in our life? When you make decisions about your life, who has the most influence on what you do? Where is Jesus in your life? Who is Jesus for you? What had Jesus done for you to make you feel that way?
By the grace of God – work already done this is the last sermon of the year. A good way to end everything and begin a time of reflection. The verses are from Colossians and Luke
Today is Christ the King Sunday – This is a new concept. Not begun in the early church, but started by a pope in 1925. Before the depression, before world war II. Time when pope began to realize that the world was getting overfocused on the material things in life. All anyone wanted to do was to have a good time and party. No one wanted to think, or do what was right, just wanted to be happy all of the time. Pope began to realize that is not what Jesus taught us at all. Wanted those who followed Christ to take some time out and reflect, and to get back to basics.
Chance for us to reflect on our relationship with Jesus – who is Jesus for us? Colossians makes it very clear. Jesus us the image of the invisible God
What has Jesus done for us – Luke makes it very clear. He forgave and reconciled the world. As Jesus is taken to the cross for claiming to be the king of the jews. One thief mocked him and asked him to save himself. And the other had one humble request – remember me when you come into your kingdom.
Jesus last words to the thief and to us – on this day you will be with me in paradise.
In spite of all that he has done wrong – he was forgiven. He didn’t deserve to go to heaven, yet Jesus promised that to him. We like the thief are all sinners, we don’t deserve to be forgiven for what we have done in life. Depends on which sinner we are – the one who mocks our king, or the one who asks for mercy. Jesus is mercy, just as God is mercy for us.
In order to make all things new- mercy god is mercy
David buttrick quote. God's mercy is not merely therapy for a few individuals beset by guilt....God does not dole out mercy like cookies only for good, repentant children. God's mercy is not conditioned by our response. God is mercy. So, wide is wider than we guess.... Our calling is to live in mercy.... Recalling God's unmerited mercy ... we absolve one another, enacting the good news. 'In Jesus Christ,' we say, 'we are forgiven.' So we look into each other's eyes without illusions; we are sinners all. Yet we embrace each other in the mercy, the wide, wide mercy of God.
Source:
• The Mystery and the Passion
Charlie brown
A Charlie Brown cartoon from years ago showed Charlie and Linus coming from Mrs. ?'s house with a handfull of cookies. Linus says, 'I don't know what I did to deserve these!'
Charlie Brown answers, 'You don't have to do anything to deserve them. She gives us cookies because she's good - not because we are!'
And that is mercy!
In order to reconcile –we have to learn to forgive
1 john 4:18 - perfect love cast out all fear
18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us.
I have noticed that Christmas comes earlier and earlier. Trend in the making for years – no mention of thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is the beginning of Christmas not end of fall
Christmas time of baby jesus – where we worship the newborn king, and we gift and receive the gifts of God. We remember that Jesus us the reason for the season.
But that is not the beginning of the story for us. We Need to be reminded that our beginning, start with endings. Joy begins with suffering. Our forgiveness begins with sin
The story for us begins not at the cradle, but at the cross. Ends at the cradle.
Christ the king started in world that had gotten comfortable, fat and overindulgent.
We were looking for that king to take care of us. Someone we could look up to, that we could honor.
Story of a king
Bouch, was a waiter at a bar in Chicago. He native country was Morroco. He read an article about his king in the newpaper, he was so impressed, because he say that his king Mohammed the 6th cared for others, did so much for the poor, and even wrote personal letters encouraging his people. If I meet him I will be so happy.
If the king of morocco cares about and takes care of his subject, how much more does Christ our king do for us. We honor a king, not interested in saving himself, but in saving us. We showed power and strength, not by getting down from the cross, but by staying on – so that we would not have to die as a consequence of all of our sins. What kind of King is that?
The UnKing
by John van de Laar
© 2009 Sacredise
We call you 'King', Jesus,
but you're not like any king we've ever heard of;
You don't flaunt your power,
waving your hand dismissively
to change the lives of your subjects;
You don't hoard your wealth,
and tax your people just to grow more comfortable
in your isolated palace;
You don't exploit the weak and unconnected,
or use the ambition of ladder-climbers
to further your control.
No, you are the King who lays down his crown,
to walk among us as one of us;
You are the King who lays down his life,
to bring abundant, eternal life to all who seek it;
You are the King who draws the weak, the rejected, the poor, the child
into the centre of the conversation
and into the heart of where real power lies.
You, Jesus, are the UnKing – the King whose Kingdom,
redefines everything we know
and will continue to do so for eternity.
Amen.
A king who shows us that mercy and forgives is what reconciles the world and brings us all closer to God.
Questions
What Questions would it address
Who or what rules in our life? When you make decisions about your life, who has the most influence on what you do? Where is Jesus in your life? Who is Jesus for you? What had Jesus done for you to make you feel that way?
Is Christ the king of your life?
As the rest of the world enters into the mad dash to Christmas – take another way- and focus on how Christ is king of your life.
Let us pray…..
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
A Glimpse of Tomorrow
Englewood UMC
137th anniversary
November 14, 2010
Isaiah 65:17-25
Luke 21:5-19
Year C
25th Sunday after Pentecost
A Glimpse of Heaven
Celebrations
Times in our lives, in the world where everything was perfect, and we took to the streets to celebrate as a nation,
The most memorable national celebration – the end of world war II - picture of a sailor and a girl kissing
Modern day – we celebrate when Chicago teams win. Last year, black people who never thought of hockey were buying black hawk shirt, huge event televised
Today we have a big celebration, gift of being in mission and ministry to God.
A lot has changed over time, but the one constant in our lives has been god
The building has changed, the people have changed, but the spirit of Englewood umc has not.
That is the point of the gospel lesson – nothing last forever
Not our situations, our lives, everything changes.
For the past year, we have been following Jesus to Jerusalem, hearing his conversations and teachings along the way, seeing lives change. Completed his journey
Ending for us – the end of the church year. No longer study Luke, but Matthew. Mathew and John
Jesus ends his journey at the temple, for him the important thing is the stories of the faithful people, what are people giving, what are people praying about. His disciples the building.
This is like Englewood a new building, not the original one. Yet still beuitiful. The stones were tons, huge, unmovable in the minds of the disciples. A sign of everything in our lives that is permanent.
There is nothing in our lives that is permanent. But the spirit of god. those stones were destroyed, and moved. Jesus was right, even though there was no way of telling at the time.
The people where the treasure of God, the stories, the relationships with God that mattered.
Disciples asked our question – if things have to end, when, how will we know.
Jesus says that is not what is important – not when, but what does that mean for me and my faith.
With God, things don’t end, they begin again, they are renewed.
God is not in the past – god in the present and the future.
What will the future look like, who will be worshipping here next year, ten years from now, 20 years from now. What is in store for this ministry?
God knows. Not for us to know
Jesus tells us that all that we can do to bring in the future is testify and witness to what God has done for us.
That is the purpose of the past – to give us a chance to witness
And meet God on the otherside.
Funny thing about celebrations, they don’t last very long. They come and they go. We are there for the moment, and tomorrow it is over.
Isaiah 65 is a time of celebration. When the people will be with God and will be happy. But it is only a glimpse of what heaven will be like. A celebration – we can see for a moment, and then things change and we have to move on.
Isaiah is something to hope for , to wirk for to be in mission for, and to trust in god for.
It is essential to distinguish between hoping and wishing, they are not the same thing. Wishing is something all of us do, it projects what we want or think we need into the future. Just because we wish for something good or holy we think that is hope. It is not. Wishing extends our egos into the fure, hope grown out of our faith. Hope is oriented toward what god is doing, wishing orients us to what we are doing. Wishing has to do with wha ti want from god, hoping is for what god wants from me. Hope means being surposed, because we don’t know what it best for us or how our lives are going to be completed. To cultiviate hope is to put side our wishes. To refuse to fantasize our what we want, to live in anticipation of what god is going to do next?
Wishing is the absence of God, hope is the presence of God
What will be the future of our church? We can only hope and witness, but can never truly know. Whatever it is, gid will be there.
We can hope for the future, we can hope for a better world in our testimony of who God is for us.
If we were to look for god, cant find him, seek god will only reval in time. If were to picture god, it will change in time.
God not in our celebrations, not in our wishes, not in our pride of what we have.
God is on our testimony and our hope.
What we start today – god will finish tomorrow.
137th anniversary
November 14, 2010
Isaiah 65:17-25
Luke 21:5-19
Year C
25th Sunday after Pentecost
A Glimpse of Heaven
Celebrations
Times in our lives, in the world where everything was perfect, and we took to the streets to celebrate as a nation,
The most memorable national celebration – the end of world war II - picture of a sailor and a girl kissing
Modern day – we celebrate when Chicago teams win. Last year, black people who never thought of hockey were buying black hawk shirt, huge event televised
Today we have a big celebration, gift of being in mission and ministry to God.
A lot has changed over time, but the one constant in our lives has been god
The building has changed, the people have changed, but the spirit of Englewood umc has not.
That is the point of the gospel lesson – nothing last forever
Not our situations, our lives, everything changes.
For the past year, we have been following Jesus to Jerusalem, hearing his conversations and teachings along the way, seeing lives change. Completed his journey
Ending for us – the end of the church year. No longer study Luke, but Matthew. Mathew and John
Jesus ends his journey at the temple, for him the important thing is the stories of the faithful people, what are people giving, what are people praying about. His disciples the building.
This is like Englewood a new building, not the original one. Yet still beuitiful. The stones were tons, huge, unmovable in the minds of the disciples. A sign of everything in our lives that is permanent.
There is nothing in our lives that is permanent. But the spirit of god. those stones were destroyed, and moved. Jesus was right, even though there was no way of telling at the time.
The people where the treasure of God, the stories, the relationships with God that mattered.
Disciples asked our question – if things have to end, when, how will we know.
Jesus says that is not what is important – not when, but what does that mean for me and my faith.
With God, things don’t end, they begin again, they are renewed.
God is not in the past – god in the present and the future.
What will the future look like, who will be worshipping here next year, ten years from now, 20 years from now. What is in store for this ministry?
God knows. Not for us to know
Jesus tells us that all that we can do to bring in the future is testify and witness to what God has done for us.
That is the purpose of the past – to give us a chance to witness
And meet God on the otherside.
Funny thing about celebrations, they don’t last very long. They come and they go. We are there for the moment, and tomorrow it is over.
Isaiah 65 is a time of celebration. When the people will be with God and will be happy. But it is only a glimpse of what heaven will be like. A celebration – we can see for a moment, and then things change and we have to move on.
Isaiah is something to hope for , to wirk for to be in mission for, and to trust in god for.
It is essential to distinguish between hoping and wishing, they are not the same thing. Wishing is something all of us do, it projects what we want or think we need into the future. Just because we wish for something good or holy we think that is hope. It is not. Wishing extends our egos into the fure, hope grown out of our faith. Hope is oriented toward what god is doing, wishing orients us to what we are doing. Wishing has to do with wha ti want from god, hoping is for what god wants from me. Hope means being surposed, because we don’t know what it best for us or how our lives are going to be completed. To cultiviate hope is to put side our wishes. To refuse to fantasize our what we want, to live in anticipation of what god is going to do next?
Wishing is the absence of God, hope is the presence of God
What will be the future of our church? We can only hope and witness, but can never truly know. Whatever it is, gid will be there.
We can hope for the future, we can hope for a better world in our testimony of who God is for us.
If we were to look for god, cant find him, seek god will only reval in time. If were to picture god, it will change in time.
God not in our celebrations, not in our wishes, not in our pride of what we have.
God is on our testimony and our hope.
What we start today – god will finish tomorrow.
Sunday, November 07, 2010
Re-member
All Saints Day
Remembering so that we can move forward
Ephesians 1:11-23
Luke 6:20-31
Year C
Poem to Remember
Always remember to forget the things that made you sad, but never forget to remember the things that made you glad. Always remember to forget the friends that proved untrue, but don’t forget to remember those who have stuck by you. Always remember to forget the troubles that have passed away. But never forget to remember the blessings that come each day.
Definition of Remember
The dictionary definition of remember is to re memor (memoir) – to bring back to mind, to be aware of, to rethink, to look back upon.
But there is a deeper meaning – to literally re –member. We live such fractured lives, where our thoughts are all over the place. We remember the past, not as it happened, but as it is convenient. We remember people with sorrow – for what we should have done, and not for what we do. We can get so caught up on what needs to be done, that we forget to look at the blessings that God has given us in today. I heard a saying that tomorrow is a date on a fool’s calendar. In our fractured state, we worry about what we will do when we have more money, more time, more understanding, never realizing that day will never come. All that we have is today – and who we are and what we have.
Remembering is the task of re membering our lives. Taking all of the parts of ourselves and putting them in one place. Taking our past and our future and making a strong connection with the present. That is all that we have to work with.
History of Englewood
Since coming to Englewood church, I have been fascinated in researching the history of the church. If learning of the young pastor who came on the train to meet someone, they didn’t show up and he realized that there was not a Methodist church in the area, so he gathered the Methodist families and started one. Then there was the newsletter article from the 20’s or 30’s which said the Negros are coming, and a challenge to the church to reach out to them. The building of the new facility in the late 50’s early 60’s as the neighborhood was changing and the facility was starting to age and need care.
I even had a facebook friend who emailed me from Iowa to tell me that a member of his church, James Beebe was also pastor of this church. It was funny because he assumed that because he was pastor in 1910, he must have been the founder of the church. It was fun to email him back to say that this man was five years old when Englewood was founded, so he could not be the founder. Rev. Beebe had a pretty distinguished career, he died pretty early at about 56, but he went on to become president of several seminaries and I think even a district superintendent. And it looks like he had been brought into the conference specifically to run a 1000 member church. He pastured Englewood in its heyday.
In reading the 25th anniversary booklet, Rev. Beebe makes a very powerful statement. It was a celebration of the church and the Sunday school. He say, “It is one thing to be proud of the achievements of our predecessors. It is another thing so to achieve that our predecessors would be proud of us. Let us manifest our pride in the history of our Sunday school, not by boastful words, but by service in our day as faithful and conscientious as the past ever knew. So we too shall enter into the joy of our Lord – and our successors.”
What a wonderful statement of what it means to remember. To connect who we are and what we do in the future, not only with the past, but also with Christ, and the saints that he commissioned before us.
Vision
I was so impressed with his statement, that as I get more and more familiar with Englewood, and I develop the vision and mission for ministry in this area – that is my foundational goal. To remember what was done here in the past, but to create a future that achieves just as much and makes the saints proud.
Ephesians says that in Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were first to set our hope on Christ.
We have inherited a purpose, a plan and a hope. We are all saints – people who have been chosen by god for a holy purpose. We have been sanctified by the Holy Spirit – which gives us ability to recognize that God is with us at every moment of our lives, the ups and the downs. Christ is not only the ruler of our lives, but the example of what it means to live holy. The church is a group of saints that have been chosen by god and who belong to Christ.
What it means to be a saint
Being a saint has nothing to do with whether we are good or bad, or even if we are dead or alive, God has different categories than that. It is about whether we listen to the Holy Spirit and we devote our lives to discipleship and service. We are not concerned with making a name for ourselves in the world, but in the eyes of our ancestors who taught us the ways of God.
Discipleship and Service
The second text for today is called the sermon on the plain. Matthew has the Sermon on the Mount that we are familiar with. In Luke Jesus gives 4 blessings to the oppressed, but he also gives 4 woes to those of us who forget to be in discipleship and service to Christ and those whom Christ blesses. You heard it in the new Revised Standard Version, so I will give it to you in another version. Rev. Eugene Peterson, wrote a version of the bible in modern language, called the Message – and once you have the literal version, it breaks it down.
Luke 6: 24-26 says
There is trouble ahead if you think you have made it. What you have is all you ‘ll ever get. And its trouble ahead if you’re satisfied with yourself, your self will not satisfy you for ling, and it is trouble ahead if your think life is all fun and games, there’s suffering to be met, and you’re going to meet it. There is trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of others saying what flatters them doing what indulges them. Popularity contest are not truth contest. Look how many scoundrel preachers were approved by your ancestors. Your task is to be true, not popular.
Usually on all saints day – we spend a lot of time remembering the blessings, remembering that our tears of loss for our loved ones will be comforted, remember that is we are peaceful we will be blessed. Remembering that in our sadness we will be blessed. Remembering is not task of feeling, it is a task of action and work. I think that it is honoring the woes – the trouble ahead that we really honor the saints who gave their lives before us. It remind us of the work in the present that we have to do. Of who we have to be to honor their lessons and to honor the lessons of Christ. Never be satisfied with who we are and what we have. Never look for the truth within ourselves, be true to our values, not to the world. In all things think of what it means to be in discipleship and service. That is the task of remembering – re- membering – bringing the world together in unity with Christ.
And when we complete that task, God moves us on to another task. In another world.
God makes no distinction
For God, life and death is not defined in terms of whether we are physically present in the body. God notes that there a lot of people in the world who are breathing, but are dead, because they have no idea of what their inheritance is and what they were put on this earth to do. And there are a lot of people who are not breathing, and yet have been granted eternal life, because they are faithful. In god’s eyes there is no separation of the past, the present and the future – they are all happening at the same time. In God’s eyes – there is no distinction of the work of the saint, we all work together for a common cause.
Unfortunately we don’t always see things the way god sees them.
We are never alone
A man from Chicago went up to heaven. And walking the streets of God, and visiting the many mansions, he noticed there was a sign on one door which said quiet please. He asked saint peter why the sign asked for quiet.
He said that behind that door there was a group of saints – they were having church service – and the members of heaven had to be quiet, because the saints truly believed that they were all alone – no one was having church but them.
We are never alone – how many other churches are having service and in praise and worship with us right now, how many people who wish they could be with us, but join us in spirit. We are never alone – but we have to have special days like this, to set aside time to remember – to re-member to connect to all of the saints of God. Let us pray….
Remembering so that we can move forward
Ephesians 1:11-23
Luke 6:20-31
Year C
Poem to Remember
Always remember to forget the things that made you sad, but never forget to remember the things that made you glad. Always remember to forget the friends that proved untrue, but don’t forget to remember those who have stuck by you. Always remember to forget the troubles that have passed away. But never forget to remember the blessings that come each day.
Definition of Remember
The dictionary definition of remember is to re memor (memoir) – to bring back to mind, to be aware of, to rethink, to look back upon.
But there is a deeper meaning – to literally re –member. We live such fractured lives, where our thoughts are all over the place. We remember the past, not as it happened, but as it is convenient. We remember people with sorrow – for what we should have done, and not for what we do. We can get so caught up on what needs to be done, that we forget to look at the blessings that God has given us in today. I heard a saying that tomorrow is a date on a fool’s calendar. In our fractured state, we worry about what we will do when we have more money, more time, more understanding, never realizing that day will never come. All that we have is today – and who we are and what we have.
Remembering is the task of re membering our lives. Taking all of the parts of ourselves and putting them in one place. Taking our past and our future and making a strong connection with the present. That is all that we have to work with.
History of Englewood
Since coming to Englewood church, I have been fascinated in researching the history of the church. If learning of the young pastor who came on the train to meet someone, they didn’t show up and he realized that there was not a Methodist church in the area, so he gathered the Methodist families and started one. Then there was the newsletter article from the 20’s or 30’s which said the Negros are coming, and a challenge to the church to reach out to them. The building of the new facility in the late 50’s early 60’s as the neighborhood was changing and the facility was starting to age and need care.
I even had a facebook friend who emailed me from Iowa to tell me that a member of his church, James Beebe was also pastor of this church. It was funny because he assumed that because he was pastor in 1910, he must have been the founder of the church. It was fun to email him back to say that this man was five years old when Englewood was founded, so he could not be the founder. Rev. Beebe had a pretty distinguished career, he died pretty early at about 56, but he went on to become president of several seminaries and I think even a district superintendent. And it looks like he had been brought into the conference specifically to run a 1000 member church. He pastured Englewood in its heyday.
In reading the 25th anniversary booklet, Rev. Beebe makes a very powerful statement. It was a celebration of the church and the Sunday school. He say, “It is one thing to be proud of the achievements of our predecessors. It is another thing so to achieve that our predecessors would be proud of us. Let us manifest our pride in the history of our Sunday school, not by boastful words, but by service in our day as faithful and conscientious as the past ever knew. So we too shall enter into the joy of our Lord – and our successors.”
What a wonderful statement of what it means to remember. To connect who we are and what we do in the future, not only with the past, but also with Christ, and the saints that he commissioned before us.
Vision
I was so impressed with his statement, that as I get more and more familiar with Englewood, and I develop the vision and mission for ministry in this area – that is my foundational goal. To remember what was done here in the past, but to create a future that achieves just as much and makes the saints proud.
Ephesians says that in Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were first to set our hope on Christ.
We have inherited a purpose, a plan and a hope. We are all saints – people who have been chosen by god for a holy purpose. We have been sanctified by the Holy Spirit – which gives us ability to recognize that God is with us at every moment of our lives, the ups and the downs. Christ is not only the ruler of our lives, but the example of what it means to live holy. The church is a group of saints that have been chosen by god and who belong to Christ.
What it means to be a saint
Being a saint has nothing to do with whether we are good or bad, or even if we are dead or alive, God has different categories than that. It is about whether we listen to the Holy Spirit and we devote our lives to discipleship and service. We are not concerned with making a name for ourselves in the world, but in the eyes of our ancestors who taught us the ways of God.
Discipleship and Service
The second text for today is called the sermon on the plain. Matthew has the Sermon on the Mount that we are familiar with. In Luke Jesus gives 4 blessings to the oppressed, but he also gives 4 woes to those of us who forget to be in discipleship and service to Christ and those whom Christ blesses. You heard it in the new Revised Standard Version, so I will give it to you in another version. Rev. Eugene Peterson, wrote a version of the bible in modern language, called the Message – and once you have the literal version, it breaks it down.
Luke 6: 24-26 says
There is trouble ahead if you think you have made it. What you have is all you ‘ll ever get. And its trouble ahead if you’re satisfied with yourself, your self will not satisfy you for ling, and it is trouble ahead if your think life is all fun and games, there’s suffering to be met, and you’re going to meet it. There is trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of others saying what flatters them doing what indulges them. Popularity contest are not truth contest. Look how many scoundrel preachers were approved by your ancestors. Your task is to be true, not popular.
Usually on all saints day – we spend a lot of time remembering the blessings, remembering that our tears of loss for our loved ones will be comforted, remember that is we are peaceful we will be blessed. Remembering that in our sadness we will be blessed. Remembering is not task of feeling, it is a task of action and work. I think that it is honoring the woes – the trouble ahead that we really honor the saints who gave their lives before us. It remind us of the work in the present that we have to do. Of who we have to be to honor their lessons and to honor the lessons of Christ. Never be satisfied with who we are and what we have. Never look for the truth within ourselves, be true to our values, not to the world. In all things think of what it means to be in discipleship and service. That is the task of remembering – re- membering – bringing the world together in unity with Christ.
And when we complete that task, God moves us on to another task. In another world.
God makes no distinction
For God, life and death is not defined in terms of whether we are physically present in the body. God notes that there a lot of people in the world who are breathing, but are dead, because they have no idea of what their inheritance is and what they were put on this earth to do. And there are a lot of people who are not breathing, and yet have been granted eternal life, because they are faithful. In god’s eyes there is no separation of the past, the present and the future – they are all happening at the same time. In God’s eyes – there is no distinction of the work of the saint, we all work together for a common cause.
Unfortunately we don’t always see things the way god sees them.
We are never alone
A man from Chicago went up to heaven. And walking the streets of God, and visiting the many mansions, he noticed there was a sign on one door which said quiet please. He asked saint peter why the sign asked for quiet.
He said that behind that door there was a group of saints – they were having church service – and the members of heaven had to be quiet, because the saints truly believed that they were all alone – no one was having church but them.
We are never alone – how many other churches are having service and in praise and worship with us right now, how many people who wish they could be with us, but join us in spirit. We are never alone – but we have to have special days like this, to set aside time to remember – to re-member to connect to all of the saints of God. Let us pray….
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)