The Church - The Caring Community

September 30, 2018 James 5:13-20 Year B 19th Sunday after Pentecost The Church – the Caring Community Children’s Time… We need to be considerate of patients in the hospital. Prop: A pastor’s calling card. Have you ever gone to the hospital because you were sick? I go to the hospital lots of times, but not because I’m sick. I go to the hospital so I can visit people who are sick. When people are sick in the hospital, they’re called patients. Some patients in the hospital are people from our church, so I go to see them. Sometimes when I visit in the hospital, the person I go to see is sleeping. I think it’s so important for a patient in the hospital to have plenty of rest that I won’t wake any patient I’ve gone to visit who’s asleep. Instead, I take out of my pocket a little card, like this, with my name printed on it. I write a note on the back of the card. I say that I hope the sick person is feeling better. I also write on my note that if that person will be in the hospital a while longer, I may be able to visit another day soon. Children usually aren’t allowed to visit patients in the hospital, so if a friend of yours is sick in the hospital, what can you do so your friend will know you’re thinking about him or her? I could send a picture I’ve drawn; I could send a get-well card. A get-well card, instead of a visit, is one good way to tell friends in the hospital you care about them. Sick people like to have lots of cards to look at. That way they know their friends are thinking about them and wishing them well. CSS Publishing Co., Inc., God's Love Is For You, by Shirley Jennings James 5:13-20 Common English Bible (CEB) 13 If any of you are suffering, they should pray. If any of you are happy, they should sing. 14 If any of you are sick, they should call for the elders of the church, and the elders should pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 Prayer that comes from faith will heal the sick, for the Lord will restore them to health. And if they have sinned, they will be forgiven. 16 For this reason, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous person is powerful in what it can achieve. 17 Elijah was a person just like us. When he earnestly prayed that it wouldn’t rain, no rain fell for three and a half years. 18 He prayed again, God sent rain, and the earth produced its fruit. 19 My brothers and sisters, if any of you wander from the truth and someone turns back the wanderer, 20 recognize that whoever brings a sinner back from the wrong path will save them from death and will bring about the forgiveness of many sins. Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible This has truly been a weekend of inspiration for me at the Leadership Institute, it was wonderful to see the Christian church at work, the Methodist Church at work. It was wonderful to see Methodist from all over the country gathered, as well as from the rest of the world being reminded of our task and giving the tools to move forward. The Methodist church will have its share of challenges in the days to come as we gather for the special general conference in February to talk about what it means to be the church and how we deal with the question on homosexuality. But we have to remember to stay focused on what it means to be the church and the task that God has given us to make disciples of all nations. Yes it was good to get away, but it was good to be back into the swing of things. I had a busy day yesterday, and as I was catching up with all of my chores, I did not worry about preparing a sermon for today – because I knew that I had preached on this text before, so I would just find an old sermon and use it again, it may be old to me – but new to you. Well, at 9:30 last night, I look on my blog to find an old sermon – and as I look for this text, I can realize that in 2015 I preached on Mark and not James – and I promised that I would finish up on James. So it was been a long night – having to come up with a sermon from scratch. So I ask the spirit to help me this morning. James is an important book. James is the 5 easy lessons in practical Christianity. Faith without works is dead, all good gifts come from God, our words come from the heart, and once they come out of our mouth we cant take them back, we have to trust God in all things and always be willing to pray. Today – our final lesson is that living those 4 things in life is hard – which is why we need the church – the community of faith to support us. Jesus calls us to be a community of faith, of support, and mot importantly of healing. Jesus believed that in order to have healthy people, you had to have healthy communities. The company that we keep affects our faith and our health. Communities can be a blessing or a curse, and it is all Jesus’ fault. If you read the new testament, it talks about how to come together, how to work together. He encourages us to overcome our differences – in order to work together. You don’t have to like someone to love them in the name of Christ. Chapter 5 is the first time that James uses the word ekklesia to talk about the church. In Greek, an ekklesia is a group of people who come together for a common purpose. A group of politicians who got together to make a decision about the republic was an ekklesia. A group of women who got together to watch the children was an ekklesia. An ekklesia was any community. Koinonia – is a community that is intentionally in communion with God. Both words came to mean the church. A community that gathers for the sake of love, faith and healing. As we go forward, I am convinced that as we create a loving, faithful, healing community amongst ourselves, we will make a difference in this community by bringing that love, faith and healing to others. As we strive to become that loving community we will see changes. James chapter 5 encourages us to be that loving community. Actually, when I woke up at 2:00 this morning, I looked in my physical sermon file and found about 5 different sermons on James 5. I think that it is the most important message of the book. He tells us what the church should be doing. First he tells us that if anyone amongst us is sick that we should call the elders to pray. We should pray for one another. We should be willing to sing songs. We should be willing to forgive. We should work together. It is the power of the Christian community that makes a difference. But have you noticed that we can come together in goodness, we can also come together in negativity. We have all heard the saying that misery loves company. We love to get together to commiserate – to share our fears, our anger, our pain our suffering and sometimes even our sin. It is interesting that James says that sin and sickness go hand in hand. We have to be clear that sin does not cause sickness. When people get sick it is not automatically their own fault that they got sick. But I have noticed that whenever I have a physical illness, I can look back and see that there was also a spiritual illness that occurred at the same time. If we are in a negative environment – it can make us sick. Negativity has a way of affecting us all. It can affect the way we deal with one another. And all that we do. Once there was a monastery in the woods that had fallen upon hard times. In the past it had been a thriving community that was well known and respected throughout the region, but over the last generation the monks had died one by one and there were no new vocations to replace them. Besides this, the monks did not seem to be as friendly to each other. Something just wasn't right. The Father Abbot was quite concerned about the future of his monastery, now consisting of himself and three brothers and, thus, he sought counsel from the local rabbi who was known to be a great sage. The abbot went to the rabbi and asked him if he had any advice on what to do to save his monastery. The rabbi felt at a loss and said that he, too, worried about his own congregation; people were too busy and simply were not coming to the synagogue any longer. The two commiserated together and read the Torah. As the abbot was getting ready to return home the rabbi looked at him and said, "One in your home is the Messiah." The abbot walked home puzzled as to what the rabbi's words meant. When he arrived at the monastery the monks asked the abbot what he had learned. He responded that the rabbi had given him no concrete advice, but he had said in cryptic language, "One in your home is the Messiah." Over the next days and weeks the monks pondered what this might mean. Was it possible that one of them was the Messiah? If that was the case then most certainly it was Father Abbot. He had been the leader for more than a generation. On the other hand it might be Brother Thomas, for he is a holy man and full of light. Certainly it could not be Brother Eldred. He is old, crotchety, and often mean-spirited, but he always seems to be right, no matter what the situation or question. The rabbi could not have meant Brother Phillip. He is very passive — a real nobody, but one has to admit that he is always there when someone needs assistance. As they continued to contemplate this question, the old monks began to treat each other with great respect, on the off chance that the one with whom they were dealing really was the Messiah. They again began to live the gospel message. The monastery was a much more prayerful place once again. Because the monastery was located in a beautiful portion of the forest it was common during the spring, summer, and fall months for families to come and have picnics on the grounds. During this period people who came seemed to sense the new spirit of respect and love that was present at the monastery. The people returned often and one day a young man came to the Father Abbot and asked if he could join the community. Soon others inquired and joined and, thus, after several years the vibrant community at the monastery was again restored because the wisdom of the rabbi had transformed hearts. The monks had once again started to live their lives according to the Golden Rule. The monks in the monastery learned, "through the back door," of the need to treat their brothers with respect. They were converted to an understanding that prayer must be a way of life. Prayer is vocal, but it must also be action. It must be the way we live our daily lives. Saint James, as he concludes his epistle, a letter based on action, that is being doers of the word, makes this point abundantly clear. Misery loves company, but Jesus loves community more. Jesus puts us in community, to heal ourselves and to heal one another. I had a community member ask to have a healing service once a month that would be open to people of all faith and of no faith. I hope to start then within the month. Because Christian community can truly make a difference. It can be a safe space for people to come for forgiveness, healing and restoration in spite of our differences, inspite of our sin. It can be the place where we remember to live our the rules of practical Christianity. – faith without works is dead, every good gift is a gift from God- what comes out of my mouth shows what is really in my heart , so watch your words- true wisdom in the world begins with a trust in God and a willingness to pray. Finally – be the church – the ecclesia – the place where people come to be healed and whole. The people who have faith that healing comes from God. Bishop Woodie White, is a retired United Methodist Bishop who is from Chicago. He said that no matter how bad things get in our lives – everything always ends with the good news of Christ. It has been an interesting ride through the book of James. James has had some pretty harsh things to say to us. But as he concludes here in chapter 5 he ends on a positive note. He is intentional about ending with the good news of Christ. Are you suffering – pray; are you in need of testifying of what God was done – sing; are you sick asks the elders to pray for you. And if you have sinned – don’t be afraid to confess and ask for forgiveness. The good news for today is that there is power in the prayers of the righteous. All of us together are the righteous, the elders, the church. So faithful people – let us be a healing community that demonstrates the power of God. Our strength is in how we work and trust together as the church. Amen.

Let the Children Come

September 23, 2018 Mark 9:30-37 Let the Children Come 18th Sunday after Pentecost Year B Children’s Time And he sat down and called the twelve, and he said to them, "If any one would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all." (v. 35) Object: A human pyramid. Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you like to be first? (Let them answer.) Almost all of us like to be first. I remember when Jesus was walking down the road and listening to his disciples talking about which one was first with him. They all wanted to be the most important person that Jesus had among his followers. Jesus didn't say anything while they were talking, but he listened to them as they each told why they thought that they were the most important person to Jesus. Each one thought that he was first with Jesus. I need someone to be first. Do I have a volunteer who would like to be first for a little experiment that I am going to do this morning? (Take the largest child who volunteers to be the first one and then each child after that so that you can build a human pyramid. Hold their hands so that they do not fall or hurt one another.) Isn't this fun? I wonder how the person who wanted to be first feels now. The first one is on the bottom and is helping to hold every one else up. He is not only the first, but also the hardest worker in the group. He is helping to serve everyone else by being first. That is the thing that Jesus told his disciples when they finished their walk. He asked all of them who wanted to be first to remember that being first with him meant that they had to be willing to serve everyone else. The person on the bottom of our pile wanted to be first, so he got the chance to hold up the whole group. Being a leader is fun, but it also has tremendous responsibility. You have to help others to be a leader. Jesus needs leaders, but he needs leaders who want to work and do things for others. That is the way it is to be with Jesus. The disciples thought about that for a long time. Most people want to be first because they like the other people who are already leaders. Most people forget that it took a lot of work to become a leader. If you want to be first, or be a leader, then you must also be ready to serve or help others. How many of you want to be first now? How many of you would rather be a follower than a leader? That is your decision, but whatever way you want to be with Jesus, he wants you to know that he loves you just as much as he loves the other. Amen. Mark 7:30-37 Jesus predicts his death 30 From there Jesus and his followers went through Galilee, but he didn’t want anyone to know it. 31 This was because he was teaching his disciples, “The Human One[a] will be delivered into human hands. They will kill him. Three days after he is killed he will rise up.” 32 But they didn’t understand this kind of talk, and they were afraid to ask him. 33 They entered Capernaum. When they had come into a house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about during the journey?” 34 They didn’t respond, since on the way they had been debating with each other about who was the greatest. 35 He sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be least of all and the servant of all.” 36 Jesus reached for a little child, placed him among the Twelve, and embraced him. Then he said, 37 “Whoever welcomes one of these children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me isn’t actually welcoming me but rather the one who sent me.” Footnotes: a. Mark 9:31 Or Son of Man Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible I can’t remember if I told this story before in this congregation, but there is a village in Africa, when they greet one another instead of saying hello, how are you- they say so how are the children. Children are dependent on their parents in order to be taken care of. So if the children are okay, then the rest of the society is okay. If the children are happy, then the rest of the community is happy. Children are an important part of our world, our community, our church. Once again, the way that we treat our children, determines the wellbeing of our church. The wellbeing of our souls. Jesus loves the little children. And our scripture for today is just one scripture where Jesus uses children to prove a point to the disciples. The most popular picture of Jesus is Always Jesus with a bunch of children on his lap. A member gave me this figurine. I treasure it because it had been a part of her family. In this scripture, in teaching a lesson. Jesus grabs the children and says that if we want to be great in the kingdom of heaven, then we must welcome the children. Actually Jesus grabs the children again in chapter 10. Jesus says let the children come, and whomever welcomes a child in their midst welcomes me. Children have not always been a treasured part of our society. As a matter of fact, thinking of children is a relatively recent development. In Jesus’ time children were considered lower than slaves. They were nonpersons that were tolerated. Even in the early church priest taught that if your house was burning, you would save your dad first, then your mother, then your wife, and if you had time then you saved the children. But if they were lost, you didn’t worry about it. So it was pretty controversial for jesus to tell us to welcome the children. When we welcome children, we welcome God. Author and business consultant Ken Blanchard tells the wonderful story of a little girl named Schia. Maybe you remember that beautiful story. When Schia was 4 years old, her baby brother was born. Says Blanchard, “Little Schia began to ask her parents to leave her alone with the new baby. They worried that, like most 4-year-olds, she might want to hit or shake him, so they said no. “Over time, though, since Schia wasn’t showing signs of jealousy, they changed their minds and decided to let Schia have her private conference with the baby. “Elated, Schia went into the baby’s room and shut the door, but it opened a crack--enough for her curious parents to peek in and listen. They saw little Schia walk quietly up to her baby brother, put her face close to his, and say, ‘Baby, tell me what God feels like. I’m starting to forget.’” (8) This lesson about the children is actually the end of a very important lesson in Mark 9. Jesus explains to the disciples that he is going to die and be resurrected. They have no idea of what he is saying to them. They never get what is going on. As a matter of fact, instead of listening to Jesus, like children they start to argue amongst themselves. Jesus asks them why they were arguing. And like children that know when they are wrong – instead of answering, they get quiet and say nothing. If Jesus were amongst us today – and asks our church what we were arguing about – he would get a mouthful – we argue about the same things, who belongs, who is right who is wrong, who needs to be corrected, who is most like us, which one of us is greatest and deserve to it next to Jesus. We are still fighting to see who is going to be first in line. Sometime back, there was a story that came out of the Special Olympics. It seems that a contestant tripped and fell while running a race. Instead of just charging down the track oblivious to another competitor's distress, the other contestants stopped, went back, picked up their fallen comrade, then all ran together to the finish. First. Last. Who cared? Everyone made it across. That was all that mattered. We can learn a lot from our children about our faith and how we should treat others. Jesus uses the children to teach a valuable lesson to all Christians about greatness, leadership about being a good Christian. He turns the tables on what it means to be #1. I think that many of us can relate to this last story. The Way Up Is Down! - Mark 9:30-37 There once was a palace servant who longed for more than anything else in life to be a knight. He yearned to represent his king and vowed within himself that if he ever had a chance to be a knight he would serve his king as the noblest knight who ever lived. His dream came true. His great day came. At his knighthood ceremony, the former servant, now a knight, made a special oath within himself. He vowed that from that day forward he would bow his knees and lift his arms in homage to no one but his king. As a knight, he was assigned to guard a remote city on the edge of the kingdom. On the day he took up his duties standing at attention in full armor at the city gate, an elderly peasant woman passed by on her way to the market. In a rickety cart, she carried some vegetables she had grown and hoped to sell. As she passed the knight, her rickety old vegetable cart hit a bump on the road and turned over. Potatoes, onions, carrots, and peas spilled everywhere. The peasant woman scurried to get them all back in her cart to no avail. She looked toward the knight in hopes he would help her but already he had forgotten what it was to be a servant. The knight stood there, unmoved, holding his pose. He would not bend to help her. He just stood at attention keeping his vow to never again bow his knees or lift his arms in homage to anyone but his king. Years passed, and one day an elderly one-legged man hobbled by on his old crutch. Directly in front of the knight, the old man's crutch finally gave out and broke in two. "Sir knight," the old one-legged man begged, "please reach down and help me to get up again." The knight, unmoved by the old man's predicament, made no response. He held his pose proudly and remembered he had vowed that he would neither stoop nor lift a hand to help anyone but his king. Decades passed, and the knight grew older. One day his granddaughter came by and said, "Papa, pick me up and take me to the fair." But, even for his own granddaughter the knight would not stoop, for within himself he had made a vow to bow only to his king. Finally, the day came for the king to come. This was the day for which the knight had longed since the day of his knighthood. As the king approached to inspect him, the knight stood proudly and stiffly at attention. As he did, the king noticed a tear rolling down the proud knight's cheek. "You are one of my noblest knights," said the king, "why are you crying?" "Your majesty," the knight replied, "I took a vow that I would bow and lift my arms in homage to you alone, but now that you are here I am an old man unable to keep my vow any more. The years of standing here stiffly at attention, waiting for you to come, have taken their toll. The joints of my armor are rusted and I can no longer lift my arms or bend my knees." The wise king replied, "Perhaps if you had knelt to help all those people who passed by you, and lifted your arms to reach out to all the people who asked for your help, you would have been able to keep your vow to pay me homage today." Jesus Christ says, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all" (v. 35)… In other words we have to use it or lose it – our faith, not our knees. The more we are able to exercise our faith, the easier it becomes. The children are our future, they are also amongst us as the present. Let the children come. Other illustrations..... I like what Robert Fulgrum, a Minister Emeritus in Edmonds, Washington, said: "Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do, and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain but there in the sand box at nursery school. Think of what a better world it would be if the whole world had cookies and milk around three o'clock every afternoon and then laid down with our blankets for a nap or if we had a basic policy for our nation and other nations to always put things back where we found them and clean up our own messes. It is still true no matter how old you are when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together." (4) That's good! That's really good! I don't want to get too nostalgic with regard to this point. I've always loved the story about the grandmother who got a note from her son and daughter-in-law that her grandchildren would be coming to spend a week with her. She loved her precious little granddaughter and lively little grandson, and when she thought about the pleasures that awaited her with them in her home, she went to church and put five dollars in the offering plate as a token of thanksgiving. She kept her grandaughter and grandson for that week and what a week it was. When they went home, she went back to church and put in a twenty dollar bill in the offering plate in thanksgiving. We're aware of that side of it, but what would we do without children; children to teach in Sunday School, and children to run through the halls on the way to worship. As we seek to minister to them, we grow. They keep us in touch with what really matters in life. When we think that life is a matter of accumulation, domination and accommodation the sound of a baby's cry can bring us back to earth. Jesus is trying to teach the disciples an object lesson about greatness, about servanthood, about leadership. What would we do without children--children to teach in Sunday school, and children to run through the halls on the way to worship? As we minister to them, we grow. They keep us in touch with what really matters. When we think that life is a matter of accumulation, domination and accommodation, the sound of a baby’s cry can bring us back to earth. A child’s laughter can brighten our entire world. A child’s love can give us something to live for, and a child’s faith can help keep a parent on the right track. “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me,” says Christ. “And whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.” Amen. Today’s lesson reminds us that children are great teachers. An anonymous author has made a list of some things you don’t know until you have kids. For example, without kids you wouldn’t know: Who John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt is. You wouldn’t know how to change a diaper in the dark, in a parked car, on a standing child, and all of the above simultaneously . . . You wouldn’t know which lines of “The Cat in the Hat” and “If I Ran the Circus” can be skipped over without a child noticing. Or the locations of public restrooms all across town. Or, how little sleep a human body truly needs to function. You wouldn’t know almost every Disney lyric ever penned. Or why they call them Happy Meals. Or the blessedness of naps. And finally, without children you wouldn’t know how much you can love one human being. (3) Business writer Ann Crittenden tells about a friend who found a three and a half year old boy sitting and staring at a little box containing wooden figures around a table, depict¬ing the Last Supper. She asked him what he was thinking. The three and a half year old looked up and said, “You know, if Jesus could give a friend a party, he’d invite the whole world.” (7) Dick Gregory, a very controversial figure, a black comedian and activist, once told about taking his oldest son to Mexico to a place where there is no electricity. He said they lived in a hut. He was in the hut one night when his son ran in and said, "Dad, Dad come here. I'm scared. I want to show you something." Dick Gregory says he went out and his son showed him the stars. It suddenly dawned on Dick Gregory that having been born and raised in Chicago the boy had never seen a sky full of stars. All of the lights and all of the buildings simply blotted out the wonder of the nighttime sky. Dick Gregory said he laid on his back with a straw in his mouth and together they looked at the Big Dipper and the Milky Way. They saw some shooting stars even. He said, "I cried that night; not for him, he had never seen that many stars, but for me." He said "I grew up looking at the stars and got so hooked into the vicious cycle (of living) I never remembered the day they left. I got so hooked into this chase that I never missed the stars." (3) That is gospel, my friend. What matters is that we all make it across, even the least among us. That was Jesus' message that day in Capernaum. That is Jesus' message today. And remember, "Whoever welcomes one such...in my name welcomes me..."

Watch your Mouth

James 3:1-12 Not Everyone Should be a Teacher Year B Repreach -September 16, 2018 Watch Your Mouth Childrens Time: I need volunteers to empty toothpaste into a bag. Once they get it out, tell them it needs to be put back into the tube. The same with our words – once they come out of our mouth, you cant take them back. So watch what you say. James 3:1-12 Common English Bible (CEB) Taming the tongue 3 My brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers, because we know that we teachers will be judged more strictly. 2 We all make mistakes often, but those who don’t make mistakes with their words have reached full maturity. Like a bridled horse, they can control themselves entirely. 3 When we bridle horses and put bits in their mouths to lead them wherever we want, we can control their whole bodies. 4 Consider ships: They are so large that strong winds are needed to drive them. But pilots direct their ships wherever they want with a little rudder. 5 In the same way, even though the tongue is a small part of the body, it boasts wildly. Think about this: A small flame can set a whole forest on fire. 6 The tongue is a small flame of fire, a world of evil at work in us. It contaminates our entire lives. Because of it, the circle of life is set on fire. The tongue itself is set on fire by the flames of hell. 7 People can tame and already have tamed every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and fish. 8 No one can tame the tongue, though. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we both bless the Lord and Father and curse human beings made in God’s likeness. 10 Blessing and cursing come from the same mouth. My brothers and sisters, it just shouldn’t be this way! 11 Both fresh water and salt water don’t come from the same spring, do they? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree produce olives? Can a grapevine produce figs? Of course not, and fresh water doesn’t flow from a saltwater spring either. Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible It seems that one day a kindergarten teacher was helping one of her students put on his cowboy boots? He asked for help and she could see why. Even with her pulling and him pushing, the little boots still didn’t want to go on. Finally, when the second boot was on, she had worked up a sweat. She almost cried when the little boy said, "Teacher, they’re on the wrong feet." She looked down and sure enough, they were. It wasn’t any easier pulling the boots off than it was putting them on. But she managed to keep her cool as together they worked to get the boots back on - this time on the right feet. And it was only then that he announced, "These aren’t my boots." She bit her tongue rather than scream, "Why didn’t you say so?" like she wanted to. And, once again she struggled to help him pull the ill-fitting boots off his little feet. No sooner had they got the boots off then he said, "They’re my brother’s boots. My Mom made me wear ’em today." Stifling a scream, she mustered up the grace and courage she had left to wrestle the ill-fitting boots on his feet again. Helping him into his coat, she asked, "Now, where are your mittens?" To which he replied, "I stuffed ’em in the toes of my boots." The article ends by saying - Her trial starts next month. My point for today is that not everyone can be a teacher. Trying to teach others is a big responsibility. That is why in the early church – teachers were held in high esteem. A congregation felt truly blessed to have a teacher. A Christian teacher was put on the level of a rabbi in Judaism. Rabbi means my great one. And by tradition if there is a fire, and you have a choice between saving your teacher or your parents, the teacher comes first. Your parents gave you life, but it is your teacher that opened the doors to your destiny. Being a teacher is a great priviledge, because it is a great responsibility. The book of matthew says that there is a special place in hell for teachers who mislead there students. As I was looking for the exact scripture last night, I saw that Jesus had a lot to say about the role of a teacher. He reminds us that we lead and teach others by what we do. And that if we are responsible for the understanding of others, then it is important to we walk the walk. If we tell others that they should be doing something that we should be doing it too. When I read the book of Matthew in college as a young person, I was literally scared straight. Because there are several times when Jesus goes off – and tells everybody off. There are several chapters in the book when Jesus is mad at the Pharisees for taking the honor of being a teacher, but for not being honest in their teachers. I would think that James had those words in mind, when he tells us that not everyone can be a teacher. And he reminds us that teachers will be held to a higher standard. For James, the major tool of teaching is our tongue. People learn by what you have to say. Which is why James explains the power of the tongue. The power of our words. Did you know that you tongue is the second strongest muscle in your body. The strongest muscle is the one that opens and closes your mouth. James and Jesus both tell us that what comes out of our mouth, is actually more important then what we put in it. ABOUT THE TONGUE There's an old story that the Jewish rabbis tell. As the story goes, one day a rabbi asked his servant to go and buy some good food for him in the market. When the servant returned home, he presented the rabbi with a tongue. The next day, the rabbi told the servant to go the market and buy some bad food. Again, the servant returned with a tongue. The rabbi then asked the servant why he returned with a tongue on both occasions. The servant answered and said, "Good comes from it and bad comes from it. When the tongue is good there is nothing better, and when it is bad there is nothing worse." (From a sermon by T. Scott Womble, Careless Speech Sins, 7/27/2010) What we teach others can be beneficial, and it can be hurtful. It all depends on how we use our words. 6380 Power Of Words A careless word may kindle strife. A cruel word may wreck a life, A bitter word may hate instill; A brutal word may smite and kill, A gracious word may smooth the way; A joyous word may light the day. A timely word may lessen stress; A loving word may heal and bless. —Author Unknown Our words come from an outflow of our heart. And we have to remember that your children and students can see the content of our heart, based on the words that we use. Life is a matter of building. Each of us has the opportunity to build something -- a secure family, a good reputation, a career, a relationship to God. But some of those things can disappear almost overnight due to financial losses, natural disasters and other unforeseen difficulties. What are we to do? Daniel Webster offered excellent advice, saying, "If we work on marble it will perish. If we work on brass, time will efface it. If we rear temples, they will crumble to dust. But if we work on men's immortal minds, if we imbue them with high principles, with just fear of God and love of their fellow-men, we engrave on those tablets something which time cannot efface, and which will brighten and brighten to all eternity. William A. Ward has said, "The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. Morning Glory, July 3, 1993. I have not been reading all of our lectionary text for the summer. But the old testament lesson for the summer has been the book of proverbs, the theme of the lectionary is wisdom. The question is asked where does wisdom come from? True wisdom comes from God. In order for us to be good teachers, we have to be good students. And the master teacher is God. Jesus is the spirit of God, sent on earth to teach us the way. Sowing the Seed Source unknown An angel paused in his onward flightWith a seed of love and truth and right,And said, "Oh, where can this seed be sownThat it yield more fruit when fully grown?" "To whom can this precious seed be givenThat it bear more fruit for earth and heaven?"The Saviour heard and said as He smiled"Place it at once in the heart of a child." The angel whispered the blessed truthTo a weary teacher of precious youth;Her face grew bright with heavenly lightAs she led their thought in the way of right. When we plant to seeds of God’s plan in the heads and hearts of others, we have an awesome responsibility. And as our children begin to grow, what will receive an awesome reward. From a speech by William Graves, editor of National Geographic magazine, Speaker's Idea File Years ago, after a celebrated international career on the stage, the world-famous violinist Jascha Heifetz became a professor of music at UCLA. When someone asked him why he had left the glamour of performing to become a teacher, Heifetz answered, "Violin-playing is a perishable art. It must be passed on; otherwise it is lost." Then he went on to say, "I remember my old violin professor in Russia. He said that (if I worked hard enough) someday I would be good enough to teach." Not everyone can be a teacher. Only those who know the consequences of teaching, are willing to take the job anyway. We have to remember, that the knowledge that we impart from our lips, will become wisdom in the minds of our students. And it is that wisdom that becomes the truth of their lives. Today we want to honor and pray for our teachers. But we want to remember, that we are all considered teachers and leaders. Our actions affect someone. I recently read about four physicians who were quarreling about which part of the body was most important for life. They could not reach a consensus among themselves so they consulted the Rabbi. "Of course the heart and blood vessels are most important," said the first physician, "for on them the whole of life depends." "Not at all," said the second physician. "It is the brain and nerves which are most vital, for without them, even the heart would not beat." The third physician said, "You are both wrong. It is the stomach and the digestive passages which are important, for without the proper digestion of food, the body will die." "The lungs are most important," declared the fourth, "for a person without air will surely die." "You are all wrong," said the Rabbi. "There are two vessels of the body only that are important, but you have no knowledge of them." "What are they?" asked the physicians. The Rabbi replied, "One is the channel that runs from the ear to the soul and the other is the channel that runs from the soul to the tongue."(4) The tongue is a small muscle, but a mighty one. Did you know the tongue can lift up to 8 times its weight. More important the tongue can be used for negative purposes – to lie, to talk about, to slander, to gossip, to hurt. Or the tongue can be used for positive purposes – Leonard Sweet calls is good gossip – the words that lift up, that encourage, the persuade. James says that only God can truly control our tongue and how we use it. We all have to watch what we say. Let us pray… Children’s Sermon: Exegetical Aim: To show how God draws near when we draw near(4:8). Props: A pitcher of water, a large bowl, and a comb. Lesson: Would you like to see a neat trick? (yes!) Who believes that I can make pouring water move without even touching it? (response) This is something that's really neat. And it's so neat that you can even do it at home in your sink. Bring out your pitcher of water and the large bowl. What I'm going to do is pour a steady stream of water into the bowl, Begin to pour a small, steady stream and while the water is pouring I'll make the stream move to one side or the other. Stop pouring. There's only one more thing that I need. Do you know what it is? It's a really good friend of the water named static electricity. And whenever water knows that static electricity is near, it wants to get near it. So the nearer the static gets, the nearer the water gets. Would you like to see it now? The way I get static electricity is with this. Hold up the comb. Now I'll just comb my hair real good, and that will make static in the comb. Carefully begin to pour a small, steady stream into the bowl. Bring the comb close to the water, and the water’s stream will bend towards the comb. You will want to practice this a few times at home before doing it for the children. Wow! Look at that! I told you that water and static were friends. When one gets near, the other one gets near. Application: Did you know that the Bible says the same thing about God? It says "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you." That means that God wants us to love him just as much as he loves us. And whenever we are near him, he wants to be just as near to us. So always remember to say your prayers and to love God. Because the nearer you are to him, the nearer he comes to you. Let's pray: Dear God, it is a wonderful thing that when we draw near to you, you draw near to us. Help us to always want to be near you. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Gifts from God

15th Sunday of Pentecost Year B James 1:17-27 Every Good Gift September 2, 2018 Children’s Sermon…… Let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God's righteousness. (v. 19-20) Object: Sunday comic pages Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you like the Sunday comics in the newspaper? (Show the comic pages and let them answer.) What are your favorite comics? (Let them answer.) Some of my favorites are Garfield, Beetle Bailey and Hagar the Horrible. One thing that I always notice about the comics is that there is usually someone who is always getting picked on. Do you notice that Garfield always picks on Odie and Jon, his owner. Sarge always picks on Beetle Bailey. There are people always shooting arrows at Hagar the Horrible. The funny thing is that these characters who get picked on never appear to really get angry. (Have an example of this ready and read it to the children. Then express your opinion that the character has a chance to be angry, but never shows it.) That's what I like about this comic strip. It reminds me of this morning's lesson. In the lesson we are told to be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger. Anger does not make us good. God wants us to be good. If I didn't know better, I'd say that (name the comic character who didn't become angry) is doing what God wants. He is not becoming angry, even though he may have a good reason to be. Here's what I want you to remember this week. We all have reasons to become angry at something every day. Sometimes we can't help but become angry. It's okay to be angry. God wants us to think before we become angry. Listen to others who may make us angry. Think before you say something in return that may make an argument worse. Try very hard not to become angry with someone. Anger doesn't make us good. The next time that someone is making you angry remember our lesson this moining. Think of (name the comic character). Try not to become angry. Try to love the other person. That's what God wants of us. CSS Publishing Co., James 1:17-27 Common English Bible (CEB) 17 Every good gift, every perfect gift, comes from above. These gifts come down from the Father, the creator of the heavenly lights, in whose character there is no change at all. 18 He chose to give us birth by his true word, and here is the result: we are like the first crop from the harvest of everything he created. Welcoming and doing the word 19 Know this, my dear brothers and sisters: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to grow angry. 20 This is because an angry person doesn’t produce God’s righteousness. 21 Therefore, with humility, set aside all moral filth and the growth of wickedness, and welcome the word planted deep inside you—the very word that is able to save you. 22 You must be doers of the word and not only hearers who mislead themselves.23 Those who hear but don’t do the word are like those who look at their faces in a mirror. 24 They look at themselves, walk away, and immediately forget what they were like. 25 But there are those who study the perfect law, the law of freedom, and continue to do it. They don’t listen and then forget, but they put it into practice in their lives. They will be blessed in whatever they do. 26 If those who claim devotion to God don’t control what they say, they mislead themselves. Their devotion is worthless. 27 True devotion, the kind that is pure and faultless before God the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their difficulties and to keep the world from contaminating us. Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible The Hebrew faith has a long tradition of wisdom literature – practical advice on how to live from day to day. As a matter of fact there is a whole section of the old testament which is considered wisdom text – Job, proverbs, song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes are all considered to be practical advice. In the new testament – the Christian book of wisdom or practical advice on how to be a Christian. The book of James is an interesting book. There are those like Martin Luther who hate this book. There is no mention of Jesus or Christ in this book. It almost did not even make it into the bible. No one is for sure of who James is- the popular belief is that he is the brother of Jesus, who became an important bishop in the early church. James does speak of the church – but he is not specific about which church. This book is considered a universal letter- not addressed to a specific congregation for a specific reason. I think that James offers a powerful message for all of us to take into consideration. I don’t think that you even need to be a Christian in order to take the advice of James – but it sure does help. The book of James begins with the words – Count it all Joy – what ever happens in life to be positive and to find the joy in it. There are two ways of dealing with life – we can be positive or we can be negative – but we should be positive – because God is positive. Today I want to focus on 4 messages in James chapter 1 Our scripture for today starts out with the words every good gift comes from God. In a village in Africa, a teacher taught her students the meaning of Christmas. Of giving gifts in honor of the new born king. The children were not Christian, but they understood anyway. One little boy was so taken with the idea, that he gave his teacher a gift the next stay. A beautiful stone, she noticed that this kind of stone could only be found in a village by the sea – that was some distance from where they lived. She thanked the little boy and asked where he go the stone – he told her that village. She said that is a little far, you didn’t need to go through that much trouble to give me a gift, you could have gotten me something simpler. No replied the little boy – the trip was a part of the gift to show you that I care. Often when we get a gift, we are not aware of what the person needed to do to achieve the gift. We don’t know the labor and love that went into acquiring it for us. Think about the gifts that God has given us – the earth, our food, our well being, our lives, our families and the countless other blessing we have in life – what did it take for God to create those gifts? What about the gifts that Christ has given us – salvation, understanding, new life, - how much did he have to sacrifice to come to earth and to die on a cross? Labor Day is our chance to think about our gifts, and the hands that gave them to us. We get to rest, but we also think of theneeds of others. Many who work in order to survive and to help their families – and yet who work tirelessly to give us the gifts of comfort and life, many of which we don’t even think of. The second message of this passage is To be quick to listen and slow to anger. We have to learn to control our emotions and reactions to life. The ear, the tongue, and the temper — all three elements of our personal and physical anatomy, yet all three ruled with special distinction when they become integrated within the anatomy of our faith. The ear, the tongue, the temper — even these for the Christian are subject to the rule of Christ in our lives. Amen. We have to control each of those things. I love going to the Brookfield zoo. It was a great experience to see not just the animals – but the relationship that we have with them as people. How we learn to live together. The primate building – starts out like a maze, and you had to choose which way to get in. Making the point that primates are the only animals in the world who are able to make a choice about anything. All other animals don’t really think about what they are doing they just automatically do it. They rely on their instincts to live and survive. Some choices we take for granted – and some we ponder over for months. But are lives are always full of choices. Our faith reminds us that we even have a choice about how we deal with life. When cant control the events of our life – but no matter what we can always choose joy – and the joyful path. We can choose to heal and move on from hurts, or we can stay stuck and constantly remember what someone said or did. Life for humans is full of choices. The third lesson of this chapter – faith without works is dead. That is one reason that Martin Luther hated this book. For him – grace is the crux of our faith. We are saved by God’s grace alone. We don’t and can’t do anything to earn our favor with God. Actually James does not negate that, but he says that if we are saved by grace, then we live in grace by saying thank you with our actions. The book of James, the new testament book of wisdom also is based on the premise of choice. We can choose what is wise or we can choose what is foolish. The consequensces are different for each choice. James also wants us to know that one is alive and one is dead. Its is sort of like two plants – one alive and one dead. The dead one looks beautiful and takes no work but a little dusting. The living one must be waters and sunned and taken care of. Which type of faith do you have – living are artificial? Faith without works is dead. The final lesson of James chapter 1 – faith without works is like looking in the mirror and forgetting what you see. We should see God in all that we do. Why do we come to church every Sunday? Why did we come this Sunday? But here’s the reason we Christians gather for worship week after week: We worship to wake up. We worship to come alive and take notice of the presence and power of God in the world, in our lives, in everything we see and do and touch and feel. The Latin “re-ligare” from which we get our word “religion” has the root “lig” — which scholars have traced back partly to meaning “pay attention.” Any religious service, any religious act, should make us sit up, shake our heads, and focus in on the divine. When our lives adhere to a set schedule of work, when everyday routines can be acted out without even thinking about them, we lose consciousness to the wonders that surround us. The wonder of God’s creation. The wonder of love. The wonder of family. The wonder of breathing in and out. The wonder of life. What labor of love goes into what you do for others. More importantly what labor of love has gone into what others have done for you? Look at the gifts in your live – who gave them? How did you get them? What is your response to those who gave them to you? This labor day – may we remember the practical things about life. Being a Christian is not about what we think in our hear – it is about what we do in our life. We come in here, so that we can be better persons out there. We can be bitter about the things that life gives us – or we can recognize the gifts we receive from God. It is our choice. Be practical in your faith, even in times that you may not say Jesus – live Jesus in your life. Amen. Other illustrations…… The “Gratitude Salute” – James 1:17-27 by Leonard Sweet Why are you here? Why did you come to church this morning? What made you voluntarily choose to spend the last summer Sunday -- before the too busy, too crowded Labor Day weekend -- inside a church? Why aren’t you lolling on some beach? (Okay, okay--maybe you will be later this afternoon!) Maybe you are here out of habit. Maybe going to church is “what you do” on Sunday morning. Maybe you are here because your parents dragged you into the car, kicking and screaming, and you would rather be anywhere else. Maybe you are here because you are lonely. Maybe you are here because you feel something is wrong or missing in your life. Maybe you are here hoping that something in here will make you different in here (point to heart). None of these are bad reasons to be at church on a sunny September Sunday (nope, not even being brought by your parents). G. K. Chesterton, one of the most important writers of the last century, put it like this: “The world shall perish not for lack of wonders but for lack of wonder.” This week’s epistle text is from the Letter of James, the letter Martin Luther famously pooh-poohed as “an epistle of straw.” Luther’s words gave a lot of us a “free pass” on James. James was seen as “weak sauce” — not worthy of much attention. But skipping James lets us slip by to our peril of slipping up and missing some of the most real life, faith-in-action admonishments in the New Testament. Could that be the real reason it is so tempting to keep James on the back burner? James won’t let us get away with some things we like getting away with? Judge Lienhouts, who established one of the most successful probation programs in the United States, told of a time he had listened to a young man pour out his tale of woe for an hour and a half, without his saying a word. At the end of this time, the young man said, "Thank you. You have been the greatest help of anyone I've ever known. No one else has ever taken the time to listen to me." The late Dr. Charles Jefferson once said, "So prone is anger to mix itself with base and unlovely elements, so frequently does it stir up the mud at the bottom of the soul, that it is not easy to free our minds from the feeling that anger has something sinful in it; or, if not actually sinful, an unlovely flaw in conduct, a deformity in character from which we may wisely pray to be delivered."