The Prodigal Mother

March 31, 2019 – repreach of 3/11/13 – 3/17/07 The Prodigal Mother Fourth Sunday of Lent Year B Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 Children’s Sermon "For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found." And they began to make merry. Objects: Some horns, drums, and other party items. Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you like a good party? (Let them answer.) Do you remember the last party that you went to? (Let them answer.) I brought along some things that I thought might help us think about a party. (Pass out the party toys.) If we were planning a really special party, we might even call in some clowns. Wouldn't that be an exciting way to have a party? When do we have parties? (Let them answer.) That's right, birthdays and other times when we want to celebrate something that is really happy or important. Jesus told a story about a father who had two sons. The older son was always good to his father and worked hard on their farm. But the younger son did not like to work and asked for his share of the family's money, then ran away to have a good time. It wasn't too long until he had spent all of the money, and he was broke. He got a job taking care of some pigs, but he also had to live with the pigs. Finally, one day, he made up his mind to go back and ask his father to forgive him. So he went back, but before he could say anything to his father about how sorry he was, his father ran out to greet him and tell him how much he had missed him. Finally, the father had a big party to celebrate his son's happy return. Jesus told this story to show us how glad God is when we change our minds, and come back to tell him how sorry we are for our sins. God is so happy to have us back that it is almost like a party in heaven. God loves us a lot, and he misses us when we leave him to go off in another direction. But God is so happy when we come back, that it is like a very happy and wonderful party. It isn't easy to come back to God. Sometimes we are afraid, or we think that God doesn't want us when we have been bad, but this isn't true. God always loves us and is really pleased when we change our minds and come back to him. Remember, going back to God is like being a part of a party in heaven. We don't know whether there will be any clowns, but we do know we will have a wonderful time there! C.S.S. Publishing Co., CALL IN THE CLOWNS!, by Wesley T. Runk Luke 15:1-3 Common English Bible (CEB) Occasions for celebration 15 All the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around Jesus to listen to him. 2 The Pharisees and legal experts were grumbling, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 3 Jesus told them this parable: Luke 15:11-32 Common English Bible (CEB) 11 Jesus said, “A certain man had two sons. 12 The younger son said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the inheritance.’ Then the father divided his estate between them. 13 Soon afterward, the younger son gathered everything together and took a trip to a land far away. There, he wasted his wealth through extravagant living. 14 “When he had used up his resources, a severe food shortage arose in that country and he began to be in need. 15 He hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.16 He longed to eat his fill from what the pigs ate, but no one gave him anything. 17 When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have more than enough food, but I’m starving to death! 18 I will get up and go to my father, and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I no longer deserve to be called your son. Take me on as one of your hired hands.” ’ 20 So he got up and went to his father. “While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion. His father ran to him, hugged him, and kissed him.21 Then his son said, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Quickly, bring out the best robe and put it on him! Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet! 23 Fetch the fattened calf and slaughter it. We must celebrate with feasting 24 because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life! He was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate. 25 “Now his older son was in the field. Coming in from the field, he approached the house and heard music and dancing. 26 He called one of the servants and asked what was going on. 27 The servant replied, ‘Your brother has arrived, and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he received his son back safe and sound.’ 28 Then the older son was furious and didn’t want to enter in, but his father came out and begged him. 29 He answered his father, ‘Look, I’ve served you all these years, and I never disobeyed your instruction. Yet you’ve never given me as much as a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours returned, after gobbling up your estate on prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.’ 31 Then his father said, ‘Son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.32 But we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive. He was lost and is found.’” Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible You don’t hear of me that story that was just read to you did you? I am Lydia, the mother of those two boys. Those two very different boys. Nathaniel, my oldest, and then there is Zachariah, he will always be my baby. And of course I am Simon’s wife. I am beginning to think that the whole world knows my story – some people seem to think that our last name must be prodigal. They refer to the prodigal son, the prodigal father, the prodigal sons. But I never get mentioned as the prodigal mother. Prodigal means either extremely wasteful, or extremely abundant. The funny thing is, I don’t think of my family as extreme at all. We are very normal, just like any other family. And the story told is not about the behavior of any one of us – it is about all of us, together as a family. It is a story of our families struggles with faith – faith in ourselves, faith in one another- faith in a God who goes out of the way to love us. But anyway, let me tell you a little more about my family. Do any of you have children? So you know that no matter how much you try to raise them the same- they come out so different. Each with their own personalities and their own stories. Take for instance, my baby, Zachariah. He was always so active and always asking questions. When he has younger, it was easy to keep up with him, and to keep up with his questions. Mommy, why did God make the sky blue? Why is it that we don’t eat the meat of pigs, like the people who live in the camp down the way? Why can’t I go play with the kids that I see in that camp – they seem to be having so much more fun. As he got older, his question got a little harder – why do I have to work in the fields with daddy- I would rather have time to dance and to learn to play my music. And then it just seemed that his questions got to hard for us to answer as parents- why do I have to stay here? Why do you want to find a wife, I am don’t want to settle down here. And then one day I think that Zach’s questions got to big, even for himself to answer. My gosh, I will never forget that day – the day that he asked my husband for his inheritance. My husband said that he felt like a knife had been struck through his heart. And it had, after all asking for his inheritance was the same as saying I wish you were dead- so that I could go on with my life. My hsband, simon, swallowed his pride, put aside his hurt. He did it – he gave Zach his inheritance and let him go- out into the world that he has always seemed to look to. We had to let him go- let him go to find what he was looking for. But I was greatful on that day that I have two sons- two very different sons. My oldest son Nathaniel never asked any of those questions. As a matter of fact, he never gave me any trouble at all. Whatever we told him – he accepted it, whatever we taught him he did it. He never wondered what was going on out there- he was always there to help his dad. We knew, from the moment that he was born that Nathaniel would be the one to take over the family business. And he has never not for one moment in his life, given us any reason to doubt that decision. Now that he and his new wife are expecting, we are looking forward to passing the business on to the next generation. And passing on our faith, which our family has held onto for many generations before. But of course, my mind always goes back to Zach, my baby. It’s like he needed to go on a journey to find himself. Those questions had to be answered. He is not a bad boy- and I know that I raised him to do the right thing. I don’t think that he will get too out of hand, when he goes onto town. And the faith that I taught him- he hasn’t come to temple with us in a very long time. But I know that God is in his heart- and God will take care of him. And Zach will return to the faith that we taught him in time. I just need to give him some time. God promised that anything that is lost will always been found. Anything that is lost will eventually be found- even family members that you don’t understand. Have you ever lost something? My family has a history of being lost, and being found. Lost to God and found by God. For years we wondered in the desert, trying to escape the oppression of Egypt. But I think the oppression of being lost in our own wilderness, is far worse than anything that someone else can do to you. To be lost somewhere between who you are and who God calls you to be – can be a horrible feeling. To be stuck between a past that you know doesn’t work – and a future that you don’t know or understand- that can be a hard thing. A friend of mine-her name was Virginia Daily, talks about a personal wilderness this way – she says that we look back with dismay upon our wrong decisions, poor choices, we dwell endlessly on our past mistakes until we make ourselves miserable and physically or emotionally ill, we are haunted by those the past, we keep dragging it out- continually rehashing of previous mistakes can cause us to lead gloomy lives. We don’t become free of that past, until we stop rehashing it in our spirits, and we are willing to give it up to God. There is a time to hold on to things, and there is a time to let go. There is a time to be lost, there is a time to be found. My family knows that well, being lost and being found. They wandered around in the desert for 40 years- trying to erase their past. It took a young man by the name of Joshua to lead the out of the wilderness, to the land that God had promised. They crossed the Jordan river, over into Gilgal – the place of a circle, the entryway into a new life that God had always promised them. A land of abundance, a land of freedom, a land of new ways, a land full of promise. And at that moment, you know a funny thing happened. In the wilderness, where they had no sense of direction, and no understanding of God’s promise. God provided a miracle for them. They ate that stuff there, on the tree. (see photo on the screen). Manna – a gift of sustenance from God. That was the miracle food that got them through the tough times. When the tough times were over, the miracle disappeared. But you know that funny thing is- that they didn’t need it anymore. Because the land that they entered-the promisedland- was full of food and many opportunities to create new ways of providing a new living. It is those times of transition in all of our lives, where we can realize that God has supported us, in ways that we couldn’t support ourselves. just as we realize that support as a gift of God- before we can become thankful enough to depend upon it- it disappears. And we are stuck in that moment of transition – when we ask ourselves the question – what do we do now. I bet you are in that transitional time right now- you are probably asking yourself what to do next? We all need resources to live- we’ve all experienced those times when those resources dry up and disappear. It’s funny, there is nothing in this world that last forever. Things that we think our very life depends upon can be taken away at a moments notice. I thank God for my faith during those times of transition. That story about Joshua helps me to realize that God had taken care of my in my past, and I may not know how, and I may not know why- but God will provide. In new and exciting ways- if I am open minded enough to listen and to learn. Everything that I need is growing right now, somewhere in the future that God has led me to. I just have to put aside old ways of thinking, leave old questions- and let God reveal a future that has always been promised to me. That happened to my family when they were finally willing to let the Egypt of the past go, and they entered into Canaan. I don’t know about your family- when good things happen my family celebrates with a feast. They had a Passover that people have been talking about for years. Anything that is lost will always be found. That is because God is always working – working to find us when we are lost, working to bring us back to the table, working to prepare us for the celebration. The celebration of life, the celebration of new life. I wouldn’t say even that God is a prodigal. God is not extravagant, or wasteful, or ridiculous. God know what god is doing. Bit I would say that God has a prodigal love for God’s family. An extravagant, ridiculous, abundant love for each and every one of us. God will do anything that I takes to find each and every one of us. God will go as far as sacrificing God’s own son for each of us. We are all gods children – and you know what- in those times when we are lost in our own personal wilderness- we can never find our true identity outside of God’s love for us. Speaking of personal wilderness, of searching for one’s true identity, asking questions that can’t be answered. He came home today! My baby Zach came home. I have never seen my husband run so fast for anything. But he welcomed him home. We are preparing for the feast now- to celebrate his being found. To celebrate being family. To celebrate God’s ridiculous, abundant love for our son, our all of us no matter who we are. I have two sons, one that had to leave to find himself, and one who has been here all of the time and just didn’t know. Maybe you can see yourself in their story. Maybe you can see your story somewhere in the story of my family? We are celebrating together, because God found all of us in the wilderness of our lives and bought us together to the promiseland. As you stand in the entryway of a life, what is is that you have to celebrate finding? Now that the manna has dried up, what are the new fruits of the land being offered to you? What preparations are you doing for the celebration? What have you found in the presence of God that you thought you had lost? And most importantly who is it that sits at the family table with you? And who in your family are you still praying for to come in from the wilderness and join the family meal?

The God of Second Chances

Rev. Harriette Cross First United Methodist Church of Wilmington March 24, 2019 Luke 13:1-9 Year C The Third Sunday of Lent The God of Second Chances Children’s time "And if it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down." Object: Some fertilizer. Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you have ever tried to grow a plant or a tree? (Let them answer.) Did it live? (Let them answer.) How did you take care of your plant? (Let them answer.) There is a story Jesus tells in the Bible about a man who had a fig tree planted on his farm. He asked another man who worked for him to take care of the tree. After a while, he came back to pick some of the fruit that had grown on the tree, but he was surprised to find that the tree had no figs. The owner was disappointed, and he told his worker to cut it down. But the worker asked him to give the tree one more chance. So the owner told him to give the tree some fertilizer, and that if it did not grow in one year, then he should cut it down. Fertilizer helps plants to grow strong so that they will produce fruit, flowers, or whatever they are supposed to produce. If you want a strong plant, one that grows and grows, you must fertilize it. Fertilizer is very important for plants and trees. Jesus told this story so that we would learn something very important about ourselves, too. Sin makes us weak. We all sin. Every one of us is a sinner. Sin makes us very weak and keeps us from living the way that God wants us to live. When we are weak, we cannot even do the good things that we want to do. There is only one way to make things better so that we can get over our weakness. We must tell God how sorry we are for our sin. This is called repentance, and it is as good for us as fertilizer is for a plant. Tell God that you are sorry, and ask him to forgive you, and you will get rid of your sin. When you do not have the sin, then you can grow strong and be the way that God wanted you to be. The next time you see someone feeding a plant some fertilizer to help it grow strong, I hope you will remember how telling God you are sorry for your sin will also help you to grow strong. Will you do that? Good. God bless you very much. C.S.S. Publishing Company, CALL in the CLOWNS, by Wesley T. Runk Luke 13:1-9 Common English Bible (CEB) Demand for genuine change 13 Some who were present on that occasion told Jesus about the Galileans whom Pilate had killed while they were offering sacrifices. 2 He replied, “Do you think the suffering of these Galileans proves that they were more sinful than all the other Galileans? 3 No, I tell you, but unless you change your hearts and lives, you will die just as they did. 4 What about those eighteen people who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them? Do you think that they were more guilty of wrongdoing than everyone else who lives in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you, but unless you change your hearts and lives, you will die just as they did.” 6 Jesus told this parable: “A man owned a fig tree planted in his vineyard. He came looking for fruit on it and found none. 7 He said to his gardener, ‘Look, I’ve come looking for fruit on this fig tree for the past three years, and I’ve never found any. Cut it down! Why should it continue depleting the soil’s nutrients?’ 8 The gardener responded, ‘Lord, give it one more year, and I will dig around it and give it fertilizer.9 Maybe it will produce fruit next year; if not, then you can cut it down.’” Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible It is pretty easy to hear the stories of Jesus and to think of these as stories for another time. None of the them apply directly to the situations of today. But every once in a while, Jesus hits the nail on the head for us, and he addresses a situation that we have just heard about in the headlines. I chose this verse in Luke for just that reason. In this verse Jesus is meddling, and talking about our time. In chapter 12 Jesus is talking to the crowd about what it takes to be a Christian. And they have decided that this whole Christian thing is a lot more trouble than it is worth. And takes a lot more time and energy than they are willing to give. Now Jesus is talking about repentance, and give your life to Jesus. And the wages of sin is death. For centuries, they have all heard this same message. If you are sick, unlucky, or die, then that is a punishment for unfaithfulness. If you are suffering, then obviously it is something that you have done. It is your own fault. Everyone seems to have the same two events in mind to prove a point. First is a group of Galileans who went to temple to protest Pilates, rules. Pilate came and crushed the rebellion and killed all of those involved. But they had no business revolting, so may be they got what they deserved. And then there were those salvodoreans who got killed when the roof collapsed. But they chose to cross the picket lines and were killed in the process. Interestingly enough – neither of these cases is recorded anywhere in history. There is no proof that either happened, or if it did, it was not worth even recording. But today – mass killings have become way too common on the news. There was just the instance of 50 muslims killed also while in worship. Did they deserve it for being muslim? How to protect ourselves in worship is not a big concern. But nothing seems to stop people being killed while going to worship, while going to the movies, while going to work. even for just waking up and going to school – they have been killed. We have been conditioned just like the people in Jesus time, to wonder who is to blame for all of this violence. If something bad happens, obviously you did something to deserve it. Jesus makes a point that this is not true. No one deserves to die just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It reminds me of an even more recent headline of a young girl who committeed suicide – because her classmates died in the parkland shooting and she survived. In a world where we have been conditioned for generations to equate sin with suffering. We live in a world – like she did of blame, guilt shame, accusations. We are meaning making machines – we have to make everything mean something. We have to find the root cause of bad sitiuations. But sometimes it does not matter – and there are things happening in our world that we just cannot make sense of. In my younger days I used to attend a self development program – landmark education. One of the first lines that we were taught to remember was life is empty and meaningless and it doesn’t mean anything that it doesn’t mean anything. The point was not to buy into the world of blame and guilt. That generational curse can be broken because we don’t have to buy into them. Jesus spent a lot of his ministry trying to prove that point. Blaming a situation on someone or something does not make the situation any better. But Jesus does not take the meaning out of the situation, he puts the meaning into it. Jesus uses this whole situation as a teachable moment. Jesus does not say that those killed in mass killings were innocent – he says that we are just as guilty as they are. Tragedy is just around the corner for all of us. But do we let sin and suffering define who we are? Jesus says no. He uses the example of the fig tree to make a point. What you have to realize is that it took a lot of time and energy to plant a fig tree. It required the best soil and demanded a lot of water and care to grow. And once it started to grow, it would be three years before you say any fruit. You weren’t supposed to pick any fruit from the tree for seven years. That was a lot of work. A vineyard keeper had been growing and taking care of this tree for 9 years, and still nothing. At what point do you give up. Nurture or Wither We used to have a swamp maple tree in our front yard. It shaded our porch and added to the landscaping in front of our house. We took it for granted and we never pruned it or fertilized it. About three years ago it began to lose its leaves and some branches withered and died. I pruned it back to give it some life. One fall we hammered fertilizer spikes into the ground in a circle around it. The following spring it sprouted new branches and you could see new foliage. For the first time in two seasons it appeared that it might make it. But, we had an unusually dry summer and the tree continued to lose branches. Finally it was invaded by carpenter ants and the tree was doomed. We should have given the tree attention sooner but instead we procrastinated. Our efforts to save it were only temporary. Eventually the time came when we had to cut it down. In a matter of minutes the tree came tumbling down. All that was left was the stump, about 10 inches in diameter. The front yard looked bare and our front porch no longer had shade. My wife wanted to replace the tree with something new. So we went to a nursery and purchased a Bradford Pear. We selected the best tree we could find. It took several days to remove the stump. I chopped and I sawed and I dug. Finally I succeeded in removing it. We then fertilized the ground and planted our new tree. We followed the directions that were given to us by the nursery worker to detail. He had told us that the Swamp Maple was really a poor choice for our soil and area. As long as we took good care of our new Bradford Pear Tree, we could expect good results. Our lives are much the same. Without nurture they wither and rot. We can’t always control the forces against us, like weather and even people who do mean things to us. We can, however make every effort to change our ways. Keith Wagner, Does Mercy Have Limits? When we hear the story of the fig tree, we usually say that the vine grower is God and that each of us is the tree. The tree which took way to much time and energy to take care of. But what if the vinegrower was each of us. The one’s who judged that the fig tree was not worth the effort. God says give them another chance, and we say no it is not worth the effort. God says let it grow, and we demand that it is time to take it out. God says don’t judge a book by its cover, and we insist that if it it what it is. God says I gave you a chance, give others a chance, and we still insist that people get what they deserve. We stay in the world of blame, guilt and suffering. In the Methodist church, the LGBTI community says that the African church is holding is down and they need to be help accountable, and the African church says that the sin of the Americans has allowed sin in the LGBT community and they need to be held accountable. But what does God say – I don’t know I am not God. A colleague from Australia points out that as we comment on recent headlines, we all can say that the Islamic community did not deserve what happened to them. But what about the one person who pulled the trigger – is he not also a child of God. Is he not also the fig tree – that God invested a lot of time and energy to developing. Do we blame him. Perhaps Jesus would say that the one who is free of guilt can cast the first stone. Jesus does say that we are just as much a sinner as those who were killed. And that we need to first turn from our sins and repent. Turn back to the God who has nurtured us so tenderly all of these years. We don’t have to live in a world of blame, sin and guilt. Jesus and 11 blokes are sitting around on lounges and comfortable chairs. Peter the Apostle is lying on the floor with his head on a cushion, and they're all waiting, and waiting, and waiting. Lunch is sitting on the table, but they wait. It's the year 2587. The Apostle John is writing the 15th version of his gospel on his iPad! And there's a tentative little knock at the door. A bloke nervously sticks his head around the corner, and Jesus springs to his feet and rushes over and says, "Judas! What kept you? Thank goodness you've arrived. We can get on with lunch! "And, of course, lunch is the Eucharist. God will wait for all time, even for the worst sinner. Jesus felt so strongly that he wanted us to be free, that he even went to the cross to pay for our sins. So that we could have the freedom to repent and have a relationship with God. God wants what is best for us, wants us to be our best self. God doesn’t do things to hurt people – Always there trying to help and make us feel better. If I die tomorrow – can I stand before God? What is it that I need to do differently? What is it that I may need to prune in my life, in order to be more connected to God? All of this is a part of our task – as we watch Jesus go to the cross to pay for our sins. We can listen to Jesus message to us to repent while we can – before it is too late. Let us pray…… Additional illustrations….. The Evening News Imagine for a moment that Jesus is watching television with his twelve disciples. They're on furlough from teaching and healing, taking it easy in the living room of Peter's mother-in-law, doing a little mindless channel surfing. Maybe they catch a little of an NCAA Tournament game, March Madness. These are guys, you know, just relaxing from a demanding schedule. But eventually the evening news comes on. They put down the popcorn and listen intently to the day's tragedies. One disciple says, "Hey, Jesus, that horrible bombing over on the West Bank where that guy drove a bus into a crowd of people. Do you think that because these Palestinians suffered in this way they were worse sinners than the rest?" It was a popular question in Jesus' day. Still is. If something bad happened, it must have been for a reason. Jesus scratches his beard for a moment. "No, they didn't die because of anything they did. It was a purely random thing. But let me tell you something. Unless you guys clean up your acts, you'll die just as tragically." There is a low murmur in the room. The disciples look at each other like Jesus has missed his morning medication. As two begin to leave to find a bathroom, the newscaster reports another catastrophe, this one halfway across the world. Jesus pipes up this time. "Hey, guys," he says, "those people over in El Salvador. What about them? The earthquake that hit there killed hundreds of people. Does that mean that these Salvadorans were worse sinners than their neighbors in Guatemala?" Jesus waits for his question to sink in. "No, the tragedy had nothing to do with their morals. Those people just got in the way." The disciples breathe a sigh of relief, gladdened to know that God doesn't work that way. But then Jesus looks at them all. "Let me tell you something, though. Unless you people start going in the right direction, you will share a similar fate as those Salvadorans and it will seem like a building falling on your head to crush the life out of you." I believe somebody got up and changed the channel after that. Frank G. Honeycutt, Sermons on the Gospel Reading, Cycle C, CSS Publishing Company _______________________________________ Things that we spend our time and energy on, are they bearing good fruit? Repent – focus on the things that are life giving. Our Chaotic Life This notice appeared in the window of a coat store in Nottingham, England: "We have been established for over 100 years and have been pleasing and displeasing customers ever since. We have made money and lost money, suffered the effects of coal nationalization, coat rationing, government control and bad payers. We have been cussed and discussed, messed about, lied to, held up, robbed and swindled. The only reason we stay in business is to see what happens next." Unknown Becoming What We Are Somerset Maugham said it best in his autobiography, Summing Up, "I knew that I had no lyrical quality, a small vocabulary, little gift of metaphor. The original and striking simile never occurred to me. Poetic flights...were beyond my powers. On the other hand, I had an acute power of observation, and it seemed to me that I could see a great many things that other people missed. I could put down in clear terms what I saw...I knew that I should never write as well as I could wish, but I thought, with pains, that I could arrive at writing as well as my natural defects allowed." Somerset Maugham discovered the secret of genius. The point is that life does not ask us to become what we are not. The fig tree was only required to produce figs. No more. You and I are asked only to accomplish what our natural gifts allow, but we are asked to accomplish just that. King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com Using Up the Ground Soil was at a premium in Israel. It was not unusual for a vineyard owner to give a little bit of his soil up for a fruit tree but the tree took up the best soil, the deepest soil, and required the most water. A fig tree doesn’t grow fruit until three years after planting. The owner in this story, had given the tree “due season” to bear fruit and yet the tree bore no fruit. It took up valuable space and resources. The owner questioned why the tree was allowed to “even use up ground.” God had given the Israelites the choicest ground. Their land possessed everything necessary to make themselves a great nation, indeed, a light to all nations. They were strategically positioned to send the fruit of God north and south, east and west; but instead, in-fighting continued to make them a worthless fruit tree. Everyone one of us and all of our churches will have to answer (from God’s perspective) this same question; “Why does it even use up the ground?” Jerry Goebel, Why Does HE Even Use up the Ground? Suffering and Repentance Trevor Beeson stood at the high altar of Westminster Abbey to celebrate the marriage of his daughter, Catharine, to Anthony, aged twenty-three. Nine months later he stood before the same altar for Anthony's funeral, who was killed when his car ran into a wall in East London. Four months later, Trevor returned to the altar beside the coffin of his friend and hero Earl Mountbatten, who died when his fishing boat was blown to pieces by Irish terrorist. Reflecting on the experience, he said he could not blame God for these senseless tragedies. He wrote: I should find it impossible to believe in, and worship, a God who arranged for the great servants of the community to be blown up on their holidays and who deliberately turned a young man's car into a brick wall…This is not the God of love whose ways are revealed in the Bible and supremely in the life of Jesus Christ. Beeson found two insights that helped him to cope with his tragedy and to look beyond it: "The first is that, although God is not responsible for causing tragedy, he is not a detached observer of our suffering. On the contrary, he is immersed in it with us, sharing to the full our particular grief and pain. This is the fundamental significance of the cross." Second, although we naturally ask, "Why did it happen?" Beeson discovered that the more important question is "What are we going to make of it?"; "Every tragedy contains within it the seeds of resurrection." This is, after all, the whole point of our pilgrimage through Lent, to Good Friday, and Easter morning. Are those who experience innocent suffering worse than anyone else? Of course not. It can happen to any of us. But is there a connection between innocent suffering and human action? Of course there is, and unless we change our way of living, we may all experience the same suffering. What does Jesus offer us when we experience this kind of suffering? The power of God to hold us firm, to give us strength, and to see us through. John K. Bergland editor, Abingdon Preachers Annual 1992, Nashville: Abingdon, 1991, p. 108. Not Nearly as Big a Man It seems that the University of Tennessee coach bought a bolt of cloth thinking he would have a suit made out of it. He took the material to his tailor in Knoxville where the tailor measured him, examined the bolt of cloth, did some computations on a piece of paper, and said, "I'm sorry, coach, there just isn't enough material in this bolt to make a suit for you." The coach was disappointed, but he threw the bolt of cloth in the trunk of his car, wondering what he was going to do with it. A couple of weeks later he was in Tuscaloosa, Alabama -- the home of the Crimson Tide -- arch enemies of the Vols. He was on his way to the coast for a vacation. Driving down the main street in Tuscaloosa, he noticed a tailor shop, which reminded him that he had that bolt of cloth in the trunk. He stopped, thinking he would give it a try. He told the tailor he had bought this bolt of cloth and wondered if he could do anything with it. The tailor measured him, measured the bolt of cloth, did some computations. Finally he said, "Coach, I can make you a suit out of this bolt. What's more, I can make you an extra pair of pants. And if you really want it, I can give you a vest out of this, too." The coach was dumbfounded. "I don't understand," he said. "My tailor in Knoxville told me he couldn't even make one suit out of this bolt of cloth." The tailor said, "Coach, here in Tuscaloosa, you are not nearly as big a man as you are in Knoxville." I tell the story to make the point that things are not always what they seem. Our Scripture lesson -- the parable of the fig tree -- is clearly a parable of judgment. But at the very heart of it is a marvelous word of grace. Maxie Dunnam, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com Not Nearly as Big a Man It seems that the University of Tennessee coach bought a bolt of cloth thinking he would have a suit made out of it. He took the material to his tailor in Knoxville where the tailor measured him, examined the bolt of cloth, did some computations on a piece of paper, and said, "I'm sorry, coach, there just isn't enough material in this bolt to make a suit for you." The coach was disappointed, but he threw the bolt of cloth in the trunk of his car, wondering what he was going to do with it. A couple of weeks later he was in Tuscaloosa, Alabama -- the home of the Crimson Tide -- arch enemies of the Vols. He was on his way to the coast for a vacation. Driving down the main street in Tuscaloosa, he noticed a tailor shop, which reminded him that he had that bolt of cloth in the trunk. He stopped, thinking he would give it a try. He told the tailor he had bought this bolt of cloth and wondered if he could do anything with it. The tailor measured him, measured the bolt of cloth, did some computations. Finally he said, "Coach, I can make you a suit out of this bolt. What's more, I can make you an extra pair of pants. And if you really want it, I can give you a vest out of this, too." The coach was dumbfounded. "I don't understand," he said. "My tailor in Knoxville told me he couldn't even make one suit out of this bolt of cloth." The tailor said, "Coach, here in Tuscaloosa, you are not nearly as big a man as you are in Knoxville." I tell the story to make the point that things are not always what they seem. Our Scripture lesson -- the parable of the fig tree -- is clearly a parable of judgment. But at the very heart of it is a marvelous word of grace. Maxie Dunnam, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com Look to God Bryan Zuckor was the quintessential 14-year-old boy-next-door — adventurous, athletic and popular at the Southern California Presbyterian Church where he worshipped and vigorously participated in youth activities. Zuckor’s wholesome life ended when he was shot and killed by a fellow student at Santana High School in Santee, CA. I suspect his grieving parents have asked themselves, ‘What did we do to deserve this?’ We moderns understand, of course, that this is not a rational question. We know that the question itself comes from a far more primitive time, a time when people thought God was a vengeful, eye-for-eye kind of God. We moderns know better. And yet, the question lingers. By all accounts, 15-year old Andy Williams was none of the things that Bryan Zuckor was. Andy was not athletic or popular or a member of a church youth group, or even a school club. But he had access to a gun, and now the whole nation knows just how frustrated and angry Andy was. He was apparently the shooter who killed Bryan Zuckor and fellow student Randy Gordon. Surely Andy’s parents, his friends, and teachers are asking, "What could we have done differently to have adverted this tragedy?" With that question we show how different we are from our ancestors. We moderns do like to believe that we have the power, we have the strength and wisdom to alter the course of human events, if only we make right and timely choices. Today, in Luke’s gospel, Jesus speaks to us all. To those who would see themselves as the ones to blame. . . . To those who assume their suffering is some form of divine punishment . . . . To mortals who see themselves as immortal, as able to exercise control over people and events . . . . Jesus speaks to us all, saying, "Humans need to look to God, not to themselves and their life experiences for the security for living." For the confidence to live life to the fullest, humans need to look to God. Sid Burgess, When Bad Things Happen _________________________________________ The Evening News Imagine for a moment that Jesus is watching television with his twelve disciples. They're on furlough from teaching and healing, taking it easy in the living room of Peter's mother-in-law, doing a little mindless channel surfing. Maybe they catch a little of an NCAA Tournament game, March Madness. These are guys, you know, just relaxing from a demanding schedule. But eventually the evening news comes on. They put down the popcorn and listen intently to the day's tragedies. One disciple says, "Hey, Jesus, that horrible bombing over on the West Bank where that guy drove a bus into a crowd of people. Do you think that because these Palestinians suffered in this way they were worse sinners than the rest?" It was a popular question in Jesus' day. Still is. If something bad happened, it must have been for a reason. Jesus scratches his beard for a moment. "No, they didn't die because of anything they did. It was a purely random thing. But let me tell you something. Unless you guys clean up your acts, you'll die just as tragically." There is a low murmur in the room. The disciples look at each other like Jesus has missed his morning medication. As two begin to leave to find a bathroom, the newscaster reports another catastrophe, this one halfway across the world. Jesus pipes up this time. "Hey, guys," he says, "those people over in El Salvador. What about them? The earthquake that hit there killed hundreds of people. Does that mean that these Salvadorans were worse sinners than their neighbors in Guatemala?" Jesus waits for his question to sink in. "No, the tragedy had nothing to do with their morals. Those people just got in the way." The disciples breathe a sigh of relief, gladdened to know that God doesn't work that way. But then Jesus looks at them all. "Let me tell you something, though. Unless you people start going in the right direction, you will share a similar fate as those Salvadorans and it will seem like a building falling on your head to crush the life out of you." I believe somebody got up and changed the channel after that. Frank G. Honeycutt, Sermons on the Gospel Reading, Cycle C, CSS Publishing Company _______________________________________ The

Who Will Carry on When I am Gone?

March 16, 2019 Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 Second Sunday of Lent Year B Who will carry on when I am gone? Children’s Sermon Exegetical Aim: God has made the greatest promise of all. Props: None. Lesson: I have a question for you this morning. What is a promise? (response) That’s right. A promise is when you say you are going to do something and you really mean you are going to do it no matter what. How many of you have ever made a promise? (response) When you made your promise did you do anything extend your hand as if you are shaking hands with someone with your hands? (shake hands). Everyone shake hands like you are making a promise and you really mean it. Are there other things that people do when they make a promise? (response) What’s the one where you say, "Cross your heart…? (hope to die, stick a needle in your eye. Ok, everyone do it with me. Everyone cross your heart. (response) Now, hope to die. (response) Ok, stick a needle in your eye. (response) I don’t know what that’s all about but it sounds like someone is pretty serious about keeping their promise. When I was a kid there was one way to seal a promise that was extra strong. If someone sealed a promise this way, you knew that they wouldn't break it. Do you know what it was? (response) It was called a "pinky promise." How do you do it? Who can show me? (response) Good! If you ever make a promise, remember to keep it. Especially if it's a "pinky promise." Application: In the bible God made some pretty serious promises. One time he made a promise to Abraham and Abraham wasn't so sure God was going to keep his promise. So God made a very serious promise and do you know what kind of promise it was? (response) I like to call it a “heifer, goat, ram, turtledove, pigeon promise.” Do you know what a heifer, goat, ram, turtledove pigeon promise is? (response) Well, when Abraham lived they didn’t shake hands or make pinky promises. They would sacrifice an animal—the bigger the animal the more serious the promise. So God made a promise to Abraham and sacrificed not just one animal but five: a heifer, that’s a cow, a goat, a ram, a turtledove, and a pigeon. What do you think Abraham said? (response) He said, “Wow God you must be serious!” Pinky promises are pretty good but a heifer, goat, ram, turtledove, pigeon promise from God is even greater. Let’s Pray: God you have made such great promises not only to Abraham but to us as well. Amen. ChristianGlobe Network, Inc, Old Testament Children's Sermons, by Brett Blair Genesis 15:1-12 Common English Bible (CEB) God’s covenant with Abram 15 After these events, the LORD’s word came to Abram in a vision, “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your protector.[a] Your reward will be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “LORD God, what can you possibly give me, since I still have no children? The head of my household is Eliezer, a man from Damascus.”[b] 3 He continued, “Since you haven’t given me any children, the head of my household will be my heir.” 4 The LORD’s word came immediately to him, “This man will not be your heir. Your heir will definitely be your very own biological child.” 5 Then he brought Abram outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars if you think you can count them.” He continued, “This is how many children you will have.” 6 Abram trusted the LORD, and the LORDrecognized Abram’s high moral character. 7 He said to Abram, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as your possession.” 8 But Abram said, “LORD God, how do I know that I will actually possess it?” 9 He said, “Bring me a three-year-old female calf, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a dove, and a young pigeon.” 10 He took all of these animals, split them in half, and laid the halves facing each other, but he didn’t split the birds. 11 When vultures swooped down on the carcasses, Abram waved them off. 12 After the sun set, Abram slept deeply. A terrifying and deep darkness settled over him. Footnotes: a. Genesis 15:1 Or shield or benefactor b. Genesis 15:2 Heb uncertain Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible Genesis 15:17-18 Common English Bible (CEB) 17 After the sun had set and darkness had deepened, a smoking vessel with a fiery flame passed between the split-open animals. 18 That day the LORD cut a covenant with Abram: “To your descendants I give this land, from Egypt’s river to the great Euphrates, Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible Today is the second Sunday of lent. By now we should well on our Lenten journey, remembering our Lenten words of lent, prayer, fasting, helping others, and repentence. If we have decided to give something up for lent, we are well on that journey of learning to live without that treasured item. The second Sunday of lent is always the time when a new word is introduced – that word is promise. More specifically, that word is covenant. A covenant is a one sided promise. A promise where one person does all of the work, and the other person agrees to receive the benefits. That word describes our relationship with God. God does all of the work, and we receive the benefits. God makes a lot of promises to us all throughout the bible. Here are some of those promises that God makes. What can be said about God's promises to us? 1. He has promised to supply every need we have. The Bible says: "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus". That's Philippians 4:19. Now notice, God has obligated Himself only to the extent of our needs. That would include food, clothing, shelter, companionship, love, and salvation thru Jesus Christ. It would not include the multiplicity of luxuries that we have come to think of as needs. 2. God has promised that His grace is sufficient for us. (II Corinthians 12:9). In fact, He has made provision for our salvation by His grace through faith. Read Ephesians 2:8. It is through an obedient faith that we have access into the grace of God according to Romans 5:2. 3. God has promised that His children will not be overtaken with temptation. Instead, He assures us that a way of escape will be provided. This promise is recorded in I Corinthians 10:13. Jude wrote: "Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you’re faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy" (Jude v 24). Darius, King of the Medes, said to Daniel, "Thy God whom thou Servest continually, he will deliver thee" (Daniel 6:16). He did deliver Daniel from the den of lions. 4. God has promised us victory over death. He first resurrected Jesus by way of assuring our resurrection. Peter said: "This Jesus hath God rose up, whereof we are all witnesses" (Acts 2:32). Paul wrote to the Corinthians: "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures" (I Corinthians 15:3,4). Later on he adds: "but thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (I Corinthians 15:57). 5. God has promised that all things work together for good to those who love and serve Him faithfully (Romans 8:28). It may be difficult for us to see and understand how this is accomplished at times, but God has promised it, and He will deliver. 6. God has promised that those who believe in Jesus and are baptized for the forgiveness of sins will be saved. (Read Mark 16:16 and Acts 2:38). 7. God has promised His people eternal life (John 10:27,28). In closing, let me appeal to you to live so that the promises of God will be yours. God has been making promises all throughout the bible. Today we look at the promise in Genesis 15. Abraham has followed God into an unknown land. His trust in God had paid off. He has a huge household, he has a happy marriage, a successful business, things are going well. But as he looks at all of the wonderful things in his life, Abraham is still sad and frustrated. All of this is wonderful, but when he dies, it will all be for nothing. All of it will go into the hands of a slave, because he is over 70 years old and he has no children to carry on his legacy. God makes a promise not to worry – because his descendants will be as numerous as the stars. For some strange reason, God tells him to make a sacrifice – to bring a lamb, a goat, a cow, a sheep and a pigeon. Abraham is to prepare them by cutting them in half and placing them on the altar. And as he sleeps, a mysterious light appears and passes through each of the animals. This seems like a really strange thing to us, but it all made perfect sense to Abraham. This was how you made a covenant promise to someone. You but the animal in half and passed through it. Basically, you are saying that if you break that promise, then the same could happen to you – you become the sacrifice. God is saying to Abraham that if you don’t have any children, then I deserve to be sacrificed. The good new for us is that God knows that god never breaks his promise. God’s word is always sufficient. What God says will always happen. Today, indeed Abraham has many children. Some are descendants of his son Isaac, some are decendants of his son Ismael, and some are like us, who are children of the covenant, children who have faith in God, because Abraham had faith in God. That is why we make a sacrifice during lent – to honor our relationship with God. To honor God’s promise in our lives. Just as the animals at the altar are a sacrifice, so are our lives. To sacrifice – means to make holy. To dedicate something for the sole purpose of God. To set something aside for God. Lent is our time to think about what needs to be made sacred in our lives, - our finances, our friends, our habits, our thoughts. What part of our lives do we need to stop controlling and be willing to turn it completely over to God. How can we trust God more in our lives. Tight rope worker and the believer Jean Francois Gravelet was considered one of the greatest tightrope walkers in history. He was the first man to walk across Niagara Falls on a tightrope. But that was not enough for him, he liked to show off. One day while crossing, he lowered a rope to a ship, pulled up a bottle of Coke, sat down on the rope to drink it. When he achieved all of that he needed to do more. He crossed in a sack, on stilts, on a bicycle, one day he was blindfolded. By this time, he had the attention of the world, so whenever he would walk across crowds of thousands would come to watch, cheer and scream his name. Finally, one day – he announced that he was the greatest tight rope walker – he asked the crowd if they believed in him. They shouted – we believe. Okay he shouted back, I will walk back across the tightrope. But this time I am going to walk with one of you on my shoulders. – do I have any volunteers? There was not a sound – no one said anything. Until one man finally raised he hand, and said he would be the one to sit on the tightrope walkers shoulder. He rose forward, got on the man’s shoulder and they went across together. Of course the crowd roared – the tightrope walker asked once again – do you believe? He corrected them – when I asked you if you believed – more than 10,000 people shouted yes. But the truth is – there was only one of you who really believed in me. God asks us every day if we believe – how many times in our life do we really answer yes? We are the children of Abraham – when we have faith in God. when we believe in the words of God there is nothing that we cant do and achieve. Sacrificing for lent is not about what we got to do, it is about what we get to do. It is not an obligation, it is a joy, when we do it for and with God. In his book, If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of The Boat, John Ortberg tells about a very remarkable lady named Henrietta Mears. Ms. Mears taught college-age, single young people for decades at Hollywood Presbyterian Church. She was a formative influence on the life of a whole generation of Christian leaders including Billy Gra¬ham, Campus Crusade founder Bill Bright, former Senate Chaplain Richard Halverson, and hun¬dreds of others. Ms. Mears was frustrated at not being able to give her students first-rate material to educate them, so she began a little publishing enterprise out of a garage. It grew into Gospel Light Publishers, a major Christian publisher in its day. She was also frustrated because she knew so many Christians liv¬ing in crowded Los Angeles who needed someplace to withdraw and be with God outdoors where they could hear him better. So she drove up into the San Gabriel Mountains and found what she thought would be the perfect location. She talked to God about how much it was needed. Then she talked to the man who owned it, and although he hadn’t been inclined to sell it, he never really had a prayer. It grew into Forest Home, one of the premier spiritual conference centers in the country. Henrietta Mears was frustrated by not having a good single-volume intro¬duction to the Bible that could help her students understand what it was all about, so she wrote one herself that sold hundreds of thousands of copies and continues to sell today, decades after her death. She did all these things and many more, despite doing them in a day when many people thought a woman had no business doing such things. Time and again she took the step of faith, and time and again she succeeded. At the end of her remarkable life, as she lay on her deathbed, someone asked her, “Miss Mears, if you had it all to do over again, would you do anything differently?” She thought for a moment and replied, “If I had it all to do over again--I would have trusted Christ more.” (2) In our covenant faith, the faith of Abraham God makes a promise, and all we have to do is trust in that promise. A promise that God loves us, God is with us, and that God has the power to lead every aspect of our lives. Lent is about us learning to trust God more in every circumstance in life. I want to leave you with these words, of faith taken from the jewish bar mitzvah service – words that I think take on new meaning for all of abrahams’s children living in the modern world. In a world torn by pain, a world far from wholeness and peace, a world still waiting to be redeemed, give us to courage to say to that world – there is one God in heaven and on Earth. Whatever we are dealing with – let us fulfill that promise – to trust God to the end. Let us pray……. What we really need to do to get in the Lenten attitude is first relearn what sacrifice means. To sacrifice does not mean to give up. The word sacrifice really means "to make sacred." If we do give up something as a sacrifice, it is only so that we may take it back in a new, transfigured way. Syndicated religion columnist for Scripps Howard News Service, Terry Mattingly, notes that while our emphasis on giving up certain foods during Lent may seem arbitrary and unimportant, it can lead us toward the true meaning of sacrifice, if we let it. But why place such an emphasis on food? Does anyone really think it's spiritually better to eat dark chocolate (no milk) during Lent than it is to eat milk chocolate? Some people forgo steaks or fried chicken, but then manage to eat their weight in forms of seafood that are allowed during the fast, such as shrimp or clams. The bottom line is that our appetites do matter. St. Paul warned the early church to avoid the sinful ways of those whose "end is destruction, their god is the belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things." But the Bible also warns believers not to turn ancient spiritual disciplines into showy gestures, planting the seeds of pride and arrogance. Yet it's good to open your refrigerator door and have to ask the question: Who's in charge here? "If God isn't in charge of my refrigerator, then He isn't in charge of the rest of my life," said one Orthodox friend. "If God isn't the God of my refrigerator, then He isn't the God of my check book, or my Day Timer, or my television or any of the other THINGS that try to run my life." (Prof. Terry Mattingly directs the Institute of Journalism at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities in Washington, D.C.) This Lenten season, how deep will your commitment be to "make sacred", to take back elements of your life? In today's text from Genesis, Abram confronts God with his greatest fear. He had grown old and wandered far. All at God's instruction. But where was this alleged "Promised Land." Still no sign of it anywhere. Even more frightening, there was still no son to carry Abram's lineage into the future. It was this fear that Abram gave up and that was returned to him as a sacred promise -a covenant sealed by sacrifice - that transformed Abram. With the divine promise Abram could take back his advanced age, take back Sarai's age and apparent barrenness, take back his own confidence in the divinely-directed future he had hoped for and believed in for so long. His age, Sarai's age, the passage of still more years, would all now be counted as sacred - elements that would be used by God to fulfill God's plan, not serve as impediments to block God's plan. In today's gospel text Jesus looks down on Jerusalem, that most holy and sacred city. But Jesus sees it and its inhabitants with a heart that knows what lies ahead. Jerusalem will kill him. Her inhabitants will turn on him, they will abandon him, they will condemn him to death. These are the very same inhabitants Jesus calls to, those he longs to make sacred again through his sacrifice. In one of the gentlest, most blatantly maternal images of the Second Testament, Jesus speaks of gathering these citizens of Jerusalem together and covering them with his protective wings like a mother hen. (Luke 13:31 35) This is the meaning of sacrifice: · Abram made his fear of childlessness...sacred. · Jesus made those who would lay hands on him and kill him...sacred. What part of your life needs to be made sacred. · Does your job need to be made sacred? · Does your marriage need to be made sacred? · Does your body need to made sacred? · Does your vocabulary need to be made sacred? · Does your time need to made sacred? · Does your relationship with your kids need to be made sacred? · Does your relationship with your parents need to be made sacred? In the high-speed, high stakes, sometimes high-handed sport of NASCAR auto racing, Dale Earnhardt was the undisputed - though often contested - king. Known as "The Terminator," Earnhardt has been given the lion's share of the credit for popularizing and profit-maximizing NASCAR. Under his leadership NASCAR was transformed from the sport of redneck roughnecks to the most watched sport in America. Everyone...from highbrow, high-profile, multimillionaire Hollywood types, to hardworking, face-in-the-crowd, blue-collar/pink-collar laborer types...came to love watching cars go fast and pass one another. And everyone, it seems, loved Dale Earnhardt. When an unremarkable track accident (hardly worth calling a crash in the spectacular smashup world of NASCAR bash ups) took his life two weeks ago, racing fans were stunned and disbelieving. Earnhardt himself admitted that he played hard and he played for keeps. While he didn't drive "dirty," he certainly wouldn't have been accused of behaving like a gentleman. He was out to win. Every time he drove onto the track, he expected to win. His tough-guy-in-a-tough-sport image came through off track as well. Though a wildly successful and savvy businessman, Earnhardt could still come across like the "hick from-the-sticks" that was his heritage. But Earnhardt had won the admiration, the respect, and even the hearts of his fellow drivers by being honest, hardworking, hard driving, as well as being a loyal friend, a loving father and a compassionate man. What only a few people knew was that although Earnhardt knew he was in a tough, dog-eat-dog-run-over-the-dog business, for years he had practiced small, but significantly meaningful gesture of "sacrifice" during each race he drove. Darrell Waltrip, whose little brother Michael was in the lead as they came into the final quarter of a mile in the 2001 Daytona 500, wrote a memorial tribute to his best friend of 30 years Dale Earnhardt in Newsweek. Waltrip, who retired a year before Earnhardt was killed, tells how his wife Stevie wrote verses of Scripture on notecards and gave them to him before a race. She'd sit down on a Sunday morning and go through the Bible. Then at some point during the race, I"d look at the card. In 1994, just after Dale's close friend, Neil Bonnett, was killed at Daytona, Dale asked her, 'Will you do that for me, too?' From that day on, she made one for me, one for him. We'd meet at the racetrack - she and Dale and I - and she'd have the two Scriptures, mine and his. Dale would read both of them and then he'd say to me, 'You take that one, this one's mine.' Then he's wink at me and say, 'I got the good one, didn't I?' That's what happened two Sundays ago. Dale didn't know if Stevie was even going to be at the track, since I wasn't racing. So when he saw her there with a notecard, he was really pleased. It was Proverbs 18:10: 'The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.' Dale read it, then he looked at her and said, 'I got the good one, now don't I?'" - ("A Farewell Lap for 'The Intimidator,' Newsweek, 5 March 2001, 53). Into the steamy, sometimes seamy life of NASCAR racing, Earnhardt brought these Bible verses, rejoicing in the way they could enter the hot, single-minded cockpit of his race car and bring a transforming peace, an uplifting spirit, to its interior. Earnhardt took back his humanity, his spiritual center, even as his physical self was necessarily at its most intense, its most narrowly focused. He sacrificed his self reliance, his self-absorption in the sport he loved, in order to take back the real love of life, the genuine joy of spirit, that drove him on. When you take back life, when you take back church, you move from what Fred Luter, Jr. of New Orleans (Franklin Avenue Baptist Church) calls a "Got To" Christian to a "Get To" Christian. Here's a "Got To" Christian: I've got to go to church today; I've got to read my Bible; I've got to go to prayer meeting; I've got to serve on the Board of Trustees. Here's a "Get To" Person: I get to play golf today. I get to go to Hawaii on my vacation. I get to see the Dallas Cowboys play. Here's a "Get To" Christian: I get to go to church today. I get to spend time with God today in prayer and Bible study. I get to minister at Hospice this week. What is it? "Got To" or "Get To?" Will you make sacred your life this Lent? Don't give up. Take back. Don't Got To. Get To. ChristianGlobe Networks, Collected Sermons, by Leonard Sweet I want to start out this morning (afternoon) talking about the promises of God. I found this wonderful article on the things that God has promised us All of those promises come from the promise that God made to our mother and father in faith Abraham and Sarah. That they would be the parents of a large nation, kings shall come from this promise. Today – according to recent statistics – 50% of the population of the world attribute Abraham as the father of their faith. That means that there are 3 billion people on the earth who are a part of Abraham and Sarah’s family. There are Christians, Muslims and Jews – the people of the book. Who are a part of God’s promise. And yet in the story, Abraham was 99 years old, Sarah was 89. He already had a son by Hagar, and he had gone on with his life, accepting things just as they were. He had done the best that he could in his life, he was only a man – so when God says that he will have another child, and create another nation – he laughs.

In the Wilderness

March 10, 2019 Year C Luke 4:1-13 In the Wilderness First Sunday of Lent Children’s Time 1 - a credit card, a crown, a star Children’s Time 2 Object: Some packages of chewing gum. Lesson: Good morning, boys and girls! How are you today? Did you know that this is the first Sunday in Lent? (Let them answer.) Did you know that this is the time when we begin to think a lot about the way that Jesus shared himself with us by dying for our sins? (Let them answer.) That's the truth. Lent is the time for you and me to spend some time thinking of Jesus and giving thanks to him for all of the good things that he did for us. One of the things that he did was to teach us to be strong against the devil and all of his evil ways. The devil is always trying to get us to forget God and to think only about ourselves. That seems to be easy. All of us like ourselves, and we spend a lot of time trying to make ourselves look good. It is easy to think of ourselves first. I want to show you how hard it is to keep from being this way. We call it denying. When you deny yourself something you are supposed to think of others and of God. That is one of the things you should do during Lent. But the devil is tempting you all of the time to think only of yourself and to forget God and others. Let me show you what I mean. I have some chewing gum here which I want everyone to have, but there aren't enough pieces for everyone. I know that there are 25 children here, but I only have 10 pieces of gum. What should I do? Should I just keep it all so that no one will be disappointed? If I gave it to 10 people would that mean that 15 of you would be disappointed? What should I do? What is your suggestion? (Let them answer. Keep working until you have total agreement that it should be divided in some way so that everyone has some even if there is some left over. The temptation here is that some would like to have it all for themselves, while others would like to give it only to the big kids and forget the little ones, etc.) Do you see what temptation does to us? It can make us forget about anything but ourselves. The devil tried to get Jesus to forget about his heavenly Father and to become his disciple. He promised Jesus everything in the world including all of the riches and power, but Jesus would not be tempted. He turned the devil down and thought first of God. You are tempted every day to think only of yourself. That is the devil working on you. Deny the devil by denying yourself, and your life will be made full by God. Amen. CSS Publishing Company, Making A Parade for Jesus, by Wesley T. Runk Luke 4:1-13 Common English Bible (CEB) Jesus’ temptation 4 Jesus returned from the Jordan River full of the Holy Spirit, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. 2 There he was tempted for forty days by the devil. He ate nothing during those days and afterward Jesus was starving. 3 The devil said to him, “Since you are God’s Son, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” 4 Jesus replied, “It’s written, People won’t live only by bread.”[a] 5 Next the devil led him to a high place and showed him in a single instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 The devil said, “I will give you this whole domain and the glory of all these kingdoms. It’s been entrusted to me and I can give it to anyone I want. 7 Therefore, if you will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 Jesus answered, “It’s written, You will worship the Lord your God and serve only him.”[b] 9 The devil brought him into Jerusalem and stood him at the highest point of the temple. He said to him, “Since you are God’s Son, throw yourself down from here; 10 for it’s written: He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you 11 and they will take you up in their hands so that you won’t hit your foot on a stone.[c]” 12 Jesus answered, “It’s been said, Don’t test the Lord your God.”[d]13 After finishing every temptation, the devil departed from him until the next opportunity. Footnotes: a. Luke 4:4 Deut 8:3 b. Luke 4:8 Deut 6:13 c. Luke 4:11 Ps 91:11-12 d. Luke 4:12 Deut 6:16 Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible Lent: Spring Training For Christians When I was a boy, I was told, "Baptists don't do Lent." No one knew why. I suspect that it was an anti-Catholic thing which I pray we are over. It was the old argument, "whatever they do, we don't!" - a curiously convoluted, twisted and unhealthy way to decide on religious practices. Whatever the reason for "not doing Lent," I think it is a great loss for any Christian not to prepare for Good Friday and Easter. Every spring the baseball players prepare for the season with spring training; every spring ordinary people prepare for summer by doing "spring cleaning." So why shouldn't Christians prepare for the most important events in Jesus' ministry - what he did for us on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, what he did for us on Golgotha's cross and at the empty tomb? If it helps you, think of Lent as a kind of Christian spring training and spring cleaning. John Ewing Roberts, Remembering and Forgetting On the first Sunday of lent – we are reminded of the 40 days that Jesus spent in the wilderness. Jesus was baptized, the sky opens and said this is my beloved son. Luke 4 opens by saying Jesus full of the holy spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the spirit in the wilderness, where for 40 days he was tempted by the devil. Now I want us to look at that verse for ourselves, because it says that holy spirit led Jesus into the wilderness. And you will notice in Luke wherever, Jesus is – the holy spirit has led him there. Luke likes to focus on the spiritual life of Jesus. In every lesson from Luke we see that Jesus prays, he talks regularly with God. Why is Jesus talking to the devil? And yet interestingly enough in this verse he is not talking to God. who is he talking to? He is talking with the devil. If Jesus is the son of God, and he prays, and he follows the spirit- then why would he be talking with the devil? He talks to the devil – because he knows that the devil talks to us – daily. God sends his son to earth to live our life, to have our concerns, to even die our death. Because between God and the devil is the life we live every day. Every day we face sin, evil, the devil and death. Jesus engaged each of those threats to our faith, so that we would have the strength to overcome them each and every time that they come along. Jesus first day of work The local sheriff was looking for a deputy, and one of the applicants - who was not known to be the brightest academically, was called in for an interview. "Okay," began the sheriff, "What is 1 and 1?" "Eleven," came the reply. The sheriff thought to himself, "That's not what I meant, but he's right." Then the sheriff asked, "What two days of the week start with the letter 'T'?" "Today & tomorrow." Replied the applicant. The sheriff was again surprised over the answer, one that he had never thought of himself. "Now, listen carefully, who killed Abraham Lincoln?", asked the sheriff. The job seeker seemed a little surprised, then thought really hard for a minute and finally admitted, "I don't know." The sheriff replied, "Well, why don't you go home and work on that one for a while?" The applicant left and wandered over to his pals who were waiting to hear the results of the interview. He greeted them with a cheery smile, "The job is mine! The interview went great! First day on the job and I'm already working on a murder case!" In our Gospel reading this morning in Luke 4 it is Jesus' first day on the job. Immediately he is confronted with three major temptations. And he is confronted with this basic question: Would he take the crown without the cross? These are the most basic temptations in life and they form the foundation for all other temptations… The problems of temptations We always start our lent conversation with the subject of temptations. Because temptations are the biggest threat to our trust, faith and loyalty to God. First, recognize that we are most vulnerable when, like Jesus, we are stretched to our limits. Exhausted, hungry, weak, beaten down by deadlines, stressed out by the demands that pull us in every direction -- if we cannot keep our lives in order, if we do not put Christ on the throne in the center of our lives, if we neglect the rest that God has given us in the sabbath, we are asking for trouble. Even the King of kings and Lord of lords had to face temptation when he was famished and exhausted Temptations of being a self proclaimed leader The three temptations that Jesus encountered in Luke 4 was first to turn stone into bread, to force all of the world to worship him and live a dangerous life and let God save him from his own mistakes. I thought that it was interesting that one commentator noted that Luke was attacking the leaders of the day. The emperor of Rome would have been tempted to have others bow to him and to serve him and to go as far as worship him – and Jesus tell the devil in each instance that one who is loyal, trusting and faithful to God does not need to give in to those temptations. Temptations are things that stand in the way of serving God I would say that is what temptations are – things in our lives that stand in the way of us giving God the ultimate praise and glory in our lives. They are just obstacles for us to overcome. They remind us that we are all vulnerable, and if we are not aware of what makes us vulnerable – them we give in to sin. And yet the son of God, the one who prays to god, who talks to God about everything in his life – talks to the devil – so that we can rise above our temptations and move on the life under the cross. Devil does not go away Another interesting that about this scripture - - verse 13 says that when the devil had finished every test he departed from him until an opportune time. In other words the devil does not flee and go away. He just sits down to be quiet. If you continue to read about Jesus journey to save us – evil is lurking around somewhere in the scene. – just waiting for another chance to stand up and create a problem. And evil and temptation never leaves our life either. One of the greatest temptations of life is thinking that we have overcome our sins. They can always reappear in our lives, sometimes even as good intentions. Jesus talks to the devil not so that he can defeat the devil, but so that he can show us the way to overcome the effects of the devil. You can tell how big a person is by what it takes to discourage him. Temptation are those things which stand in the way of our faithfulness to God. our faithfulness to God is the only way for us to overcome temptation. Jesus was the son of God. but Jesus was also a model for us on how to follow God. We all struggle with temptations, but we all struggle with the question of how to do the right thing. I like this story, because it is a story about our doubts. We all have to deal with the question of who we are in life. What is our life about, and more important what is our ministry about – is it about serving ourselves, or others, is it about not paying attention to who is watching, or letting our life be an example, is it about fame and fortune or about humility, is it about being self sufficient, or obeying God’s will. Lent is our chance to think about those questions and to come up with an answer. I love this text, because Jesus intentionally went out into the wilderness to get answers. A friend of mine writes this poem about temptation OUR WILDERNESS Somewhere, sometime each one of us takes an unchosen path through the wilderness. Not the rocky, broken land, nor the frigid night winds, nor the terrible beasts, nor the parching thirst will frighten us most. But it is the loneliness, the utter fear that we are forgotten and that nothing makes sense-- this is the barrenness where we finally cry out, pray for love to find us. And then He comes. Life is like a wilderness, but we can choose to walk toward a powerful Easter morning. Let us pray…..

A Glory like no other

Transfiguration Sunday March 2, 2019 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2 Year C A Glory like no other Children’s time…….. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. Object: A veil or very fine piece of netting. Good morning, boys and girls. What do you like most about Jesus and the things that he taught? (Let them answer.) How many of you love Jesus and wish that he were with you right now? (Let them answer.) Some people say that they don't understand Jesus or that they can't find him anywhere. They say that Jesus is like a person hiding behind a veil. (Put your own face behind the veil or netting.) It is kind of hard to know who a person is if they wear a veil. Don't you think that a veil is a good disguise? (Let them answer.) If everyone wore a veil, it would be very hard to tell who they are. We would have to guess if it was you or one of your friends. We would never be sure who anyone was. But that isn't true. At least it is not true for people like you and me. God is not hiding from us. As a matter of fact, God is always asking us to study and learn more about him. He wants us to know him as well as we can. He sent Jesus to tell us about him and Jesus taught other men to be his disciples so that they could teach us. God tells us to pray and talk over our problems and our joys with him. God tells us to come to church where we can meet other Christians who know about him and who want to share what they know with us. God doesn't hide from us, but instead, he does everything that he can to help us know him better. But some people like to think that God is wearing a veil. They like to think that God is hiding from them so that they don't have to live the way God teaches us to be. They think if they keep telling everyone that God is hiding, everyone will soon believe it and then everyone will be like them. The bad people in this world always like to pretend that they do not know what is right and what is wrong. That way, it doesn't make any difference what they do. They like to think that God is hiding. But you and I know differently. God is not behind a veil or a screen. He tells us something about himself every day and he wants us to learn what he tells us. Don't let other people kid you and tell you that God is hiding. God is not hiding and the only people who are being kidded are the people who tell you stories like that. God is happy that you know him, and he only wants you to know him better. 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2 Common English Bible (CEB) 12 So, since we have such a hope, we act with great confidence. 13 We aren’t like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the Israelites couldn’t watch the end of what was fading away. 14 But their minds were closed. Right up to the present day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. The veil is not removed because it is taken away by Christ. 15 Even today, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts. 16 But whenever someone turns back to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Lord’s Spirit is, there is freedom. 18 All of us are looking with unveiled faces at the glory of the Lord as if we were looking in a mirror. We are being transformed into that same image from one degree of glory to the next degree of glory. This comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 4 This is why we don’t get discouraged, given that we received this ministry in the same way that we received God’s mercy. 2 Instead, we reject secrecy and shameful actions. We don’t use deception, and we don’t tamper with God’s word. Instead, we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God by the public announcement of the truth. Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible The question that seems to be on everyone’s mind recently, is what happened at General Conference last week. I have tried to be very careful in answering that question, because in a lot of ways, it all depends on your perspective. Every four years, delegates from all over the united Methodist Church gather to make decisions about the church. In 2016, they called for a special general conference just to discuss the churches stance on sexuality. So last week, they gathered and discussed two different plans on how the church would be structured, and what the official stance on sexuality would be. Presently, according to the 2016 Book of Discipline, the book says that homosexuality is not in keeping with Christian teachings. That means that the united Methodist church does not recognize homosexual marriage, and that those who openly claim that lifestyle cannot be ordained. There are many people in our churches, who want to be recognized as Christian. So the bishops came up with a plan to give each church and each annual conference a chance to decide for themselves if they could change the official stance or not. And even if there were different opinions, we would still be one united Methodist church. Another plan was presented – called the traditional plan which would leave the language as it is, and put sanctions on pastors and bishops who disobeyed. As the delegates gathered for three days, the first day they voted to prioritize which proposals were most important to talk about, the next day they discussed and perfected the plans and the final day they took an official vote. The traditional plan was passed and the one church plan was defeated. There were a few other plans discussed to allow churches to leave the denomination and keep property, and for pastors to keep their pension. The whole conference had to end at 6:30 pm because we had to be out of the conventional center. So the final vote was taken at 5:30, and once the traditional plan passed, it was referred to the judicial council to see if the plan even fits in with our consitition. So the easy answer to what happened, is nothing, we wont know until we get a ruling in late april. The longer answer is that it seems that each person took away from the proceedings what they were looking for. Those who were conservative were happy with the vote, but they were planning to leave the denomination anyway. The liberals took the vote personal and felt that the church doesn’t love them and they started to protest. And now, people are in their feelings, and asking what it next for our denomination. Many pastors and bishops have made statements about next steps. The president of the council of bishops reminded us of what our bishop said before the conference even started. That on February 28th – we will still be the united Methodist Church, and we are still called to serve God and to be in mission to the world in order to transform the world into a better place to live. I felt that the message of 2 corinthians was an important message for us to think about on this transfigurations Sunday. In it, Paul makes two very important points. First he says that our understanding of God is like wearing a veil, we cant see things very clearly. In order to understand the ways of God all we have is our perception, and all of our perceptions are limited and flawed. But Paul goes on the talk about the old covenant and the new covenant. For many of us, that is the difference between the covenant of the jews and the covenant of the Christians. The covenant of the jews still stands and is alive and well, we call it the old testament. It talks about the laws of God, of obeying the laws, and keeping the original understanding of God. Whereas we understand the new covenant, to be the new testament, where we learn about Jesus. Paul says that the new covenant is like taking the veil off and seeing God clearly. And yet we know that God still loves both groups of each covenant. I think that is an important lesson for united Methodist today as well. It seems that all general conference did was highlight our differences. It seems that each person left more convinced that they were right and the other side was wrong. I am often hesitant to say what happened at general conference, because I am not on either side. I see the point of both sides. My personal concern is more for the unity of the church, of the church being able to live together. Even though each have a different understanding of God. All throughout religious history, in every generation the understanding of God changes. And the tension between the old and the new becomes unbearable. Very early in our biblical history, God changed God’s name from el to jah, then the tension between the old testament and the new testament. Today we live in a world that is changing, and its attitudes on sexuality are changing too. Today, most states have allowed same sex marriage. Today if you fill out a form you can chose male, female, or nonbinary. And more and more people are choosing nonbinary. Many parents have went from allowing their boys to play with dolls, to saying that they are not going to raise their child as a boy or girl – they will let them choose who they are when they are an adult. Even here, as I teach the parenting class – one of the first lessons points out in Genesis,that God created us male and female. But our youth today don’t want to identify as either. With all of these changes, in the next generation or two I think this religious discussion on sexuality will become a moot point. Yet we will still be the Methodist church in some form or another. My prayer is that as the church, we spend less time attacking one another, and more time interacting with our changing culture. God never stays the same god is always changing. I think that it is important as our young people are redefining identity, they the church be a part of that conversation. So does the church follow God or does God follow the church? That is the point of this whole debate. But I felt that 2 Corinthians gives an important message in times like these. Since we have such a hope, we act great confidence. We don’t get discouraged. We can hold our heads up high and be United Methodist – There is nothing wrong with the discussion that our church is struggling with. And God will win in the end. A God that stands with all people, whatever they believe and whatever they feel. But as we enter into the future, we can enter it with hope and confidence – to serve, to be in mission and to believe in God. Amen. Additional illustrations……. Sermon Opener - Face to Face - 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2 The 2010 drama film “The Social Network” portrayed many interesting features of Mark Zuckerberg’s development of his online creation. But they missed a big one: the name he chose for his baby --“Facebook.” Let’s face it: humans are obsessed with the unique, defining nature of our faces. The arrangement of our eyes, nose, mouth, chin, cheeks, forehead, never ceases to amaze and fascinate us. More than 5000 distinguishable facial expressions have been identified, and that is probably just a start on the human face. The 18th century German satirist Georg Lichtenberg called the human face “the most entertaining surface on earth.” How could we possibly resist pursuing and endlessly perusing an online site called “Facebook?” We recognize friends — and enemies — by their face. Bank robbers wear masks to hide their faces, knowing full well that, no matter how clear the pictures of their bodies might be, without a full view of their face, they cannot be accurately identified. When the Protestant Reformers came across images of the saints and the Virgin Mary, they defaced them on paintings and had their faces gouged out of carvings and sculptures. Babies look at faces — learning how to put the pieces together and how to recognize and trust the familiar, and reject and be fearful of the unfamiliar. It is in our human DNA to look into the face of others for critical, life-preserving, information. “We find ourselves in the faces of others” says Siri Hustvedt in her novel The Summer Without Men (2011). We become human through our relationships with others. In short, long before “virtual life,” human beings were walking, talking “Facebooks.” Our language reflects this fixation. We speak of taking things at “face value,” or of doing an “about face,” or of “facing off” against opponents. We “face the music,” make “face time,” and when dishonored we “lose face.” “Face cards” carry the most value and to stand “face-to-face” with another signifies being in the most valued of positions. One of the most advanced new computer identification techniques is the science of “facial recognition” — computer programs that can scan and identify individual faces without any other physical information. In the “transfiguration” scene described in this week’s gospel text (Luke 9:28ff), Jesus’ face shines…