Crisis Literature

November 29, 2020 Mark 13:24-37 Crisis Literature 1st Sunday of Advent Year B Opening Song Welcome Opening Prayer Almighty God, as we begin this season of Advent remind us again that in the midst of our darkness you are bringing us peace, to calm our anxious spirits and hectic lives. Turn our hearts again toward you. Make us ready to receive your Son our Savior. Slow our pace, and give us the blessing of feeling your peace in our spirits. For we ask this in Jesus’ precious Name. AMEN. Lighting the Advent Candle Stewardship Moment The beginning of the season of giving – giving our hearts Scripture This is the first Sunday of the lectionary new year. Not all churches follow the lectionary. I grew up in a free church tradition, but I really appreciate the lectionary, because I have found that the scriptures of the week always magically address whatever issues that need to be mentioned. Following the lectionary allows me to have some structure to my devotional time. It also keeps all of the different people who play a part in the service on the same page, headed in the same direction even though we don’t all agree with one another. Of course there is a gospel lesson. There are four gospels, but only three lectionary years. The gospel for year B is Mark. Mark is the shortest of the books, so we also read parts of the Gospel of John. Mark is the earliest of the gospels. It is obvious that both Matthew and Luke used the book of Mark as a reference. We are not really sure of who Mark is, it seems that he was a follower of both Paul and Peter. A lot of his writings seem to come from Peter’s sermons. Mark was written in 70 AD, just a little before the temple of Israel was destroyed. Mark may have followed the disciples, but he did not think very much of them. Mark writes for a gentile audience, unlike Matthew and Luke who are both speaking to Hebrews. One of the themes of Mark is the messianic secret. Mark’s Jesus constantly tells those who deals with not to tell anyone what they witnessed. Mark is my favorite book. Mark is very down to earth and tells it like it is. Mark believes in magic and talks a lot about angels, demons and ghost. But he also has a great understanding of human behavior and does not have a problem calling out people’s dumb behavior. The church would not have been developed when Mark was writing, so there is not a lot of church tradition in his writing. There are only 16 chapters in the book. It is believed that the last 4 verses that talk about the mission of the church to spread the gospel throughout the world was added later. Mark has no need for the birth stories – because the beginning of our faith is the resurrection of Christ. Mark starts his book off with the prophecy of the one to come. In chapter one he talks about John the Baptist and Jesus getting baptized by his cousin. This starts his year long ministry before he is killed. The book ends with his resurrection appearing to the women at the tomb and later to the disciples. By now many of you should have got your worship bags. Included is a advent reading plan of Mark. I thought it would be good to read it in this season, so that when you hear the stories in a sermon you are familiar with them. Since Christmas is not Mark’s thing, as we get closer to the 25th – we will read about the prophecies of the messiah and the birth stories in Matthew and Luke. The first Sunday of advent always starts with the second coming of Christ. It always starts with God noisily breaking into the chaos and confusion of our world. So this Sunday we are reading Mark 13. Mark may have been a gentile, but he understood how to speak to the Hebrews. He uses a lot of popular text of the day. Mark 13 is apocalytptic literature – meaning it speaks of the day of the lord at the end of time. The books of Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel are examples of apocalyptic literature. It is written to address a crisis, and to show how God will rescue the faithful from the effects of that crisis. In Mark 13 the crisis is personal for Jesus – he is preaching and teaching things that put him at odds with the leaders of the day. He says that the temple will be destroyed, those are fighting words for a building that is the foundation of their lives. Mark’s advent message is that we do not know when the day of the lord will come. But we can expect it in our generation. We need to stay alert, pay attention, and wait on God to transform the world. Mark 13:24-37 Common English Bible 24 “In those days, after the suffering of that time, the sun will become dark, and the moon won’t give its light. 25 The stars will fall from the sky, and the planets and other heavenly bodies will be shaken. 26 Then they will see the Human One[a] coming in the clouds with great power and splendor. 27 Then he will send the angels and gather together his chosen people from the four corners of the earth, from the end of the earth to the end of heaven. A lesson from the fig tree 28 “Learn this parable from the fig tree. After its branch becomes tender and it sprouts new leaves, you know that summer is near. 29 In the same way, when you see these things happening, you know that he’s near, at the door. 30 I assure you that this generation won’t pass away until all these things happen. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will certainly not pass away. 32 “But nobody knows when that day or hour will come, not the angels in heaven and not the Son. Only the Father knows. 33 Watch out! Stay alert! You don’t know when the time is coming. 34 It is as if someone took a trip, left the household behind, and put the servants in charge, giving each one a job to do, and told the doorkeeper to stay alert. 35 Therefore, stay alert! You don’t know when the head of the household will come, whether in the evening or at midnight, or when the rooster crows in the early morning or at daybreak. 36 Don’t let him show up when you weren’t expecting and find you sleeping. 37 What I say to you, I say to all: Stay alert!” Sermon – Crisis Literature Today I want to read to you a poem that is based on a rather famous poem about Christmas called ‘Twas the Beginning of Advent’. It is by a friend of mine - Todd Jenkins. It will tell you a little bit about this season we celebrate. 'Twas the beginning of Advent and all through the Church Our hope was all dying-- we'd given up on the search. It wasn't so much that Christ wasn't invited, But after 2,000 plus years we were no longer excited. Oh, we knew what was coming-- no doubt about that. And that was the trouble-- it was all "old hat." November brought the first of an unending series of pains With carefully orchestrated advertising campaigns. There were gadgets and dolls and all sorts of toys. Enough to seduce even the most devout girls and boys. Unfortunately, it seemed, no one was completely exempt From this seasonal virus that did all of us tempt. The priests and prophets and certainly the kings Were all so consumed with the desire for "things!" It was rare, if at all, that you'd hear of the reason For the origin of this whole holy-day season. A baby, it seems, once had been born In the mid-east somewhere on that first holy-day morn. But what does that mean for folks like us, Who've lost ourselves in the hoopla and fuss? Can we re-learn the art of wondering and waiting, Of hoping and praying, and anticipating? Can we let go of all the things and the stuff? Can we open our hands and our hearts long enough? Can we open our eyes and open our ears? Can we find him again after all of these years? Will this year be different from all the rest? Will we be able to offer him all of our best? So many questions, unanswered thus far, As wise men seeking the home of the star. Where do we begin-- how do we start To make for the child a place in our heart? Perhaps we begin by letting go Of our limits on hope, and of the stuff that we know. Let go of the shopping, of the chaos and fuss, Let go of the searching, let Christmas find us. We open our hearts, our hands and our eyes, To see the king coming in our own neighbours' cries. We look without seeking what we think we've earned, But rather we're looking for relationships spurned. With him he brings wholeness and newness of life For brother and sister, for husband and wife. The Christ-child comes not by our skill, But rather he comes by his own Father's will. We can't make him come with parties and bright trees, But only by getting down on our knees. He'll come if we wait amidst our affliction, Coming in spite of, not by our restriction. His coming will happen-- of this there's no doubt. The question is whether we'll be in or out. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock." Do you have the courage to peer through the lock? A basket on your porch, a child in your reach. A baby to love, to feed and to teach. He'll grow in wisdom as God's only Son. How far will we follow this radical one? He'll lead us to challenge the way that things are. He'll lead us to follow a single bright star. But that will come later if we're still around. The question for now: Is the child to be found? Can we block out commercials, the hype and the malls? Can we find solitude in our holy halls? Can we keep alert, keep hope, stay awake? Can we receive the child for ours and God's sake? From on high with the carolling host as he sees us, He yearns to read on our lips the prayer: Come Lord Jesus! As Advent begins all these questions make plea. The only true answer: We will see, we will see. Todd Jenkins, quoted by Richard J. Fairchild, "T'was The Beginning of Advent" I did not write that story, it was written by Todd Jenkins. It seems that we are off to a great start to the advent season. Decorations are coming up everywhere, some people have been decorating since September. It is obvious that people need Christmas this year. We are seeking that feeling of home. We need to feel safe, comfortable and loved. Christmas is about coming home. We need to put aside the chaos and confusion and trouble and find some sense of peace. There is a story of a young child starting school – after a few hours he started to cry. The teacher asked if he was home sick. He said not I am here sick. There are a lot of us who are sick of here. Sometimes home is not where the heart is. This Christmas season is definitely calling us all home. We dream of a world where we are all happy, we have a spirit of community, we want to help and reach out to others. We want to sing the songs, we want to see the lights. We want to celebrate. Being home begins with the condition of our hearts. If we need Christmas more than ever, we also need advent this year. We need to be prepared for God to come and straighten this all out. 2020 had a lot of hope, but in reality we have all been challenged. And there is a lot of blame on the year itself, as if when 2021 comes all of this is going to disappear. That might not happen, I don’t think trouble has a calendar to know the date. And yet as I take my advent vacation, I feel God calling me to sit still, be quiet, to listen a little more, to walk a little closer to God in prayer and study – to get ready for a brand new journey. I need to do what I can to move forward all the while trusting God. We all miss our church, we all miss being in the sanctuary, we miss being all together. We will get back together. But when that day comes, we may have to work harder to be a church, we will have to be more determined to fulfill our mission to be disciples of Christ that are an example to others. We may have to be the change we are looking for. More importantly we will have to be alert to see the change. There was a young women from Chicago who loved the Cubs. She waited for years for them to win the championship. The year they won, she had moved to London. Because of the time change she was asleep when they finally won the game. When the day comes when we can meet safely, we too want to be spiritually prepared to be the church. For now, our job is to watch for God, to work for change, and to wait for things to get better. What are you waiting for? More importantly what does you waiting look like? Advent is the time to find out. Let us pray… Advent Prayer Prayer for the waiting O God we are waiting for your creative spark to ignite us and transform us. We are waiting for your healing and comfort for lives taken by coronavirus, for the damage done to our earth and the violence that has ripped through too many communities. O God, we wait in hope. We are waiting for your justice to sway the rich and powerful to care for the poor, the lonely, the orphaned and the immigrant but also know that our hearts and hands must act for change. O God, we wait in peace. We are waiting for the whole world to tilt away from death and destruction toward play and imagination. O God, we wait in joy. We are waiting for love to come again and remind us again that it does not require any talent on our part, for you do your work. O God we wait with love. Help us, O God to paint and dance, to sing and scribble, to use our hands to create your realm even as we wait. Amen. Song for Reflection People Look East UMH 202 Announcements Benediction 1 Community Time Benediction 2 The light of the Candle of Peace goes before us, offering hope and healing to a darkened world. Go into the world, confident in God’s presence with you. Bring the words and actions of peace to all God’s people. And the blessings of God, the love of Jesus Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit be with you always. AMEN.. Children’s Moment An unlit candle Additional Illustrations Sermon Opener - Getting Ready - Mark 13:24-37 It is hard for us to understand Jesus' delay in his coming. God's time clock is certainly out of sync with ours as Little Jimmy learned one day as he was laying on a hill in the middle of a meadow on a warm spring day. Puffy white clouds rolled by and he pondered their shape. Soon, he began to think about God. "God? Are you really there?" Jimmy said out loud. To his astonishment a voice came from the clouds. "Yes, Jimmy? What can I do for you?" Seizing the opportunity, Jimmy asked, "God? What is a million years like to you?" Knowing that Jimmy could not understand the concept of infinity, God responded in a manner to which Jimmy could relate. "A million years to me, Jimmy, is like a minute." "Oh," said Jimmy. "Well, then, what's a million dollars like to you?" "A million dollars to me, Jimmy, is like a penny." "Wow!" remarked Jimmy, getting an idea. "You're so generous... can I have one of your pennies?" God replied, "Sure thing, Jimmy! Just a minute." Little Jimmy wasn't ready for that response was he? Our text this morning seems an unlikely scripture for Advent. It has nothing to do with Mary and Joseph, the Wise Men, of shepherds watching their flock. Instead it is story about a wealthy landowner going on a trip. The servants left behind were given charge of the estate and when the master returned he would check on their stewardship. It is a story about being prepared, getting ready. In that sense then this is an Advent story, for this is the season of preparedness. Consider with me a moment that... 1. God Identifies with the Human Situation. 2. Advent Is Time to Get Ready for the Return of Christ. Stay Awake! - Mark 13:24-37 A young professional woman from Ohio decided to seek her fortune, discern her vocation, and potentially change her life for the better by moving to England. She relocated to London where she began to pursue an advanced degree, seeking new opportunities in the work world. One of the things she took with her from the Midwest was an insatiable love for the Chicago Cubs professional baseball team. She followed the games on the internet, listening to the live feed. The problem with this arrangement was that, when the games began, often around seven or eight o’clock in the evening in the United States, it was one or two o’clock the following morning in London. That made for a very late — or early — bedtime. In the year when the Cubs were on the cusp of qualifying for the World Series, she eagerly tuned in to listen to the games that would decide who would qualify. But she’d been listening to every Cubs game that year, all broadcast in what was the middle of the night where she lived. After tuning in to the game that was to seal the Cubs’ fate, the inevitable happened. She fell asleep and awoke only in time to hear the post-game wrap-up. The Cubs had won. They were in the Series. She had missed all the excitement. On her Facebook account she lamented, “I’ve waited years for a moment like this, and of course I slept through it!” Is there a moral to this story? One might be: Try to get more sleep. Another might be: Try to order your affairs in such a way that you will be alert when events transpire that you believe to be of critical importance to you. In this young woman’s defense, once the World Series began, she stayed awake for every game. Her comment was, “True Cubs fans never give up.” And, in demonstration of her commitment to her favorite team, she remained faithful to the last out — staying awake for all of it. The writer of the gospel of Mark sets the tone for the Christian season of Advent with appropriate advice.... Jesus Is Coming! One of my dearest friends applied for a position that required him to instruct and inspire younger people. His interviewer and evaluator asked him, "Tell me about your walk with Jesus." My friend replied, "You know, everywhere I go, no matter where or when, I find that Jesus has arrived there first. Wherever I go, Jesus is already there." The evaluator made no reply; he had no idea what to say, and my friend was never offered the job. Was his response too theologically subtle? Jesus is not the Lord whom we discover or define or claim. Jesus comes to us. We do not summon Him by any action of our own. Jesus is God's gift. While we were yet sinners, he was born, died, and raised again for us that we might inherit new life. Advent announces that Jesus is coming and not through any action of our own. We do not deserve it. Advent happens. Advent means that Jesus comes again and for all time, at Christmas, this Christmas. Edward S. Gleason, In the Time of This Mortal Life A Distinguished Guest There is a passage in the old Jewish book of Zohar, that goes like this: "Whenever the Jews on earth rejoice in their festivals, they give praise to the Lord. They put on fine clothes and pile their tables with good food. So the angel asks, 'Why do the Jews pamper themselves so much?' And God answers, 'They have a distinguished guest today. I am with them.' "Today is a very special day. We are preparing for a very special guest. It is the first Sunday of Advent. Our celebration begins with the word "Emmanuel," which means, "God is with us." John A. Stroman, God's Downward Mobility Disappointment at the Chaos For a little while when I was a junior in Akron North High we had a substitute English teacher, and she was almost always late for our class, which met on the third floor. She usually arrived with her arms full of books and papers, out of breath, scolding us, good-naturedly for the most part, into silence. One awful day she was later than usual, and the class was noisier than usual. Erasers were flying, books were sailing. It probably doesn't do any good to tell you that, truthfully, I usually did not take part in the chaos, although I can't say I didn't enjoy it. Anyway, on this fateful day one boy-- Stanley M -- produced a cherry bomb from his pocket. The room got very quiet. Stanley lit a match and we held our breaths. The windows were open-- they were the kind that the middle pane swung out from the top. Stanley evidently intended to light the bomb in the classroom and throw it out the window toward the athletic field two stories below. We couldn't believe it-- but Stanley lit the bomb-- and threw it-- and it hit the window pane above the open window and bounced back into the middle of the room, under the desks, hissing. Just at that very moment our teacher came breathlessly into the quiet room-- quiet except for the hissing-- with her arms full of books. But before she had a chance to worry about why we were quiet, or what the hissing sound was ---KA- BOOM!-- the cherry bomb exploded, and instantly the room was full of smoke, and then there was silence again. Our teacher did not drop her armload of books. She did not miss a step. She simply went over to the desk and sat down and put her face on the books and papers she had been carrying. I think it may have been a full five minutes that no one said a word, no one made a sound. I imagine today the police would been called and someone would be expelled from school, and there certainly would be a lawsuit. But her awful silence, and the fact that we were all shocked and stunned was punishment for us all, even Stanley the bomb-thrower. More than forty-five years later I still feel that little woman's pain and disappointment at the chaos that greeted her coming. Russell F. Metcalfe, Jr., Gifts before Christmas ive Us a Little Longer Prudence Phillipson of England uses this analogy. When her children were young the floor of their playroom often became messy with games and toys strewn everywhere. Prudence got her children to clean up their toys and games by telling them she was going round the corner to the shop. "When I come back," she warned, "everything should be in its place." She would then give each child a task before she left. The oldest child would be given more complicated tasks while the simpler ones would go to the younger children. Then she would leave. The children would either do as she told them or else disregard her instructions. When she returned, sometimes she would come quietly up the stairs and see through the half-open door that they were quarreling or fooling around or just absorbed in something. Then there were other times when she would see that her children were not quite finished with their task so she would creep away to give them more time. Sometimes she would shut the front door with a bang and hear sudden noises of bustle as they hurried to get the room straightened. At such times one of the children would call out, "Not just yet, Mummy. Give us a little longer." In thinking about her children, Prudence writes, "Each Advent I recall this experience with my children and wonder how many times the Lord has been close at hand, seeing the chaos of our world and longing to come, but waiting, sparing us judgment a little longer." Perhaps we are given more time to get our lives in order. King Duncan, Collected Sermons Twas the Beginning of Advent A-lert A young girl asked her Sunday school teacher, "What's a-lert?" "A what?" the teacher asked. "A lert?" she said again. "Why do you want to know?" asked the bewildered teacher. "Because the pastor said that we should 'be alert,' so I want to know what a lert is, so I can be one?" Brian Stoffregen, Exegetical Notes Working and Waiting When we wait, we admit there are some things that are not under our control. Most of us like to believe that we are in control. We imagine that we are masters of our destinies. If we work hard enough, if we are sufficiently prepared, if we just concentrate, we can make life work. And we can. To a point. There are some things, however, that can't be hurried. Recuperation from surgery, the grief process, a young person learning responsibility. Shakespeare put it like this, "How poor are they that have no patience. What wound did ever heal but by degrees?" John R. Claypool has wisely said, "Let's face it, there are two kinds of reality in this world of ours. There are the things you have to work for, and there are the things you have to wait for." Claypool is right. But we don't want to wait. Collected Sermons, King Duncan

Thanksgiving Service

Rev. Harriette Cross First United Methodist Church of Wilmington November 25, 2020 Psalm 100 Thanksgiving Prayer Service I want to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. I know that this is a strange celebration like no other, but we still have many things in life to be thankful. Thanksgiving is an uniquely American secular holiday, started by the presidents, not the priest and pastors. But we all know that Thankgiving has deep roots in religion. We also know that everything that we have to be thankful in life comes from God. So God should be the center of all that we do on that day. I know that last Sunday’s service was a Thanksgiving service, I thought that it was important for us to start our Thursday celebrations off thinking of God. First I want to share with you some scripture - Psalm 100 - enter into his gates with Thanksgiving I know that we are familiar with the five kernel story. Supposedly the first year that the pilgrims were here, was a difficult year. Sometimes all that they had to eat was five kernels a day for each person. So when they had the first Thanksgiving – they symbolically bought those five kernels to dinner. Those five kernels could represent: 1. God’s love for us, 2. God provides for us, 3. We have friends in our life, 4. We have those who love us. 5 God hears our prayers. I wanted to share with you that there are also five blessings of being thankful in life. 1. Those who are thankful are stress free and happy. 2. Thankfulness increases immunity 3. Thankfulness lowers blood pressure 4. Thankfulness improves relationships with others and 5. Thankfulness helps us to age gracefully. So when I wish you Happy thanksgiving this year – I truly wish you happiness – spiritually and physically. I want to share with you this Thanksgiving prayer by Father John Martin. God Almighty, this has been a terrible year. So much death. So much illness. So much misery, all around the world, for every human being. I can hardly believe it. And I certainly don’t understand it. It breaks my heart to think of how many people have lost family members, spent hours worried about sick friends in the hospital, not been able to attend funerals, been laid off from their jobs, seen their businesses closed and agonized over whether to send their children to school or not. Sometimes the only prayer I can say is the prayer of the psalmist: “How long, O Lord?” And now it’s Thanksgiving, when I’m supposed to be thankful. How, O Lord? Maybe the only prayer I can utter this Thanksgiving is: Teach me to be grateful. each me to be grateful for what I still have. Help me to see where you are blessing me, even in the midst of this pandemic. Give me a new pair of eyes, so I can more clearly see your grace: Let me see the generosity of health care workers on the front lines as a sign of your love. My prayer for you is that God may help you to count your blessings. May God be with you in all circumstances, and family situations. May you see God in all things, and may you have many things to be grateful for. Finally we are approaching the Advent season. This is the time of year where one day it is fall and the next it is Christmas. Advent is the season of waiting. This year may we truly prepare our hearts for the day when we can be a church again. Grace, Peace, Love go with you in both season! Peace Out!

In all Things Give Thanks

Thanksgiving Weekend November 22, 2020 Deuteronomy 8:7-18 Year A Opening Song Welcome Opening Prayer O Holy God, maker of every thought and thing, open our hearts this day, that we may know your presence in this time and place. Restore us now, so we may see the special gift and calling that you have for each of us. Masterful potter of life, mold us into the vessels you would have us be. Help us be ready for your promised return, when you will be among us and within us with new, creative, healing energy. Amen. Stewardship Moment Invitation to the Offering (Isaiah 64, Mark 13) During this late harvest time, when fruit and grain are gathered in and many are preparing for the cold of winter, God invites us to share what we have gathered so others may have enough. The Holy One, the gracious, giving source of comfort, shapes us into vessels of compassion and invites us to give of our bounty so that others may be fed and clothed and healed and loved. Let us be generous and joyful in our giving. Offering Prayer (Mark 13) Holy God, triumphant liberating savior of all, receive these gifts and the hopeful hearts that offer them as part of your bountiful harvest. Strengthen and sustain us through our hungers and our fears until your unexpected advent. Help us as we wait to know each day that we are a part of your generous, expectant household, the body of Christ. Amen. Scripture Deuteronomy 8:7-18 Common English Bible 7 because the LORD your God is bringing you to a wonderful land, a land with streams of water, springs, and wells that gush up in the valleys and on the hills; 8 a land of wheat and barley, vines, fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey; 9 a land where you will eat food without any shortage—you won’t lack a thing there—a land where stone is hard as iron and where you will mine copper from the hills. 10 You will eat, you will be satisfied, and you will bless the LORD your God in the wonderful land that he’s given you. Against wealth and overconfidence 11 But watch yourself! Don’t forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commands or his case laws or his regulations that I am commanding you right now. 12 When you eat, get full, build nice houses, and settle down, 13 and when your herds and your flocks are growing large, your silver and gold are multiplying, and everything you have is thriving, 14 don’t become arrogant, forgetting the LORD your God: the one who rescued you from Egypt, from the house of slavery; 15 the one who led you through this vast and terrifying desert of poisonous snakes and scorpions, of cracked ground with no water; the one who made water flow for you out of a hard rock; 16 the one who fed you manna in the wilderness, which your ancestors had never experienced, in order to humble and test you, but in order to do good to you in the end. 17 Don’t think to yourself, My own strength and abilities have produced all this prosperity for me. 18 Remember the LORD your God! He’s the one who gives you the strength to be prosperous in order to establish the covenant he made with your ancestors—and that’s how things stand right now. Sermon In All Things Give Thanks For those who are not Facebook friends with me, this is my inspiration piece for my dining room table. Every month I decorate the table with a different theme. Instances where attention is a dangerous thing, because lately they have gotten pretty elaborate – because people from all over the country look forward to the table. But you may not have noticed that at the center of every setting is this sign – In Everything give thanks. I started decorating my table in 2001 – I was a campus minister at UIC, since I wasn’t in a church I couldn’t light an advent candle, so I created an advent wreath at home. Then it grew from there, to where I set the table every month. I happened to notice this sign in a Christian store – and decided that this would be my centerpiece to decorate around no matter what. This sign spoke to me – because of an incident a few years before. I gave my first sermon in Aurora. And I met a little girl about 12 who was excited for me to be her pastor, she sat in the front row with her parents. And after the sermon, she laughed at me and told me that was the dumbest sermon she ever heard. You preached about it being Thanksgiving – who celebrates Thanksgiving in July. My feeling were hurt, I felt obviously she didn’t get the point of my sermon – to be thankful all of the time, in every season. But today – we are approaching the Thanksgiving holiday – and it is a timely message to remind us to count our blessings. It has been a tough year – but still it is a time to be thankful. Have You Taken Inventory Lately? The renown teacher and author Dr. David McLennon tells a story of his very first job in a small town general store. This was the day before mails and supermarket chains at least it was in his community. At age thirteen he was hired as a handy boy. He would sweep the flour, bag items for customers, put up stock. On one particular Saturday, he recalled., he heard the owner say to one of the clerks "It’s that time of the year again, it’s time to take inventory." Dr. McLennon Wrote that this was a word that had not yet entered into his vocabulary. When an opportune moment arrived, he went up to the kindly older man and asked, Sir, what is an inventory? Patiently the owner explained that it was a time when you made a list of everything that you had--from groceries on the shelves to wrapping paper and string. Still somewhat puzzled, the young McLennon then asked, Why? "Well, responded the owner, its easy to forget exactly how much you have each year. Every now and then you have to take an inventory just to see what all you have." That little story, to me, pretty well sums up what Thanksgiving is all about. It is a time when each of us needs to ask ourselves the question: Have I taken inventory of my life lately? Have I made an effort to count all the things that I do have in life instead of complaining about the things that I don’t have. It is a good exercise especially when we are of a mind to brood or whine in self pity. Have you taken inventory lately? What I am suggesting here is not some shallow "count your blessings" platitude. But from time to time, in a genuine kind of a way, we need to sit down and do some talking to ourselves about all of the gifts and opportunities and challenges that God has given each one of us. Perhaps there is a deep underlying wisdom in the children's poem that says: "Count your blessings one by one, and you might be surprised what the Lord has done." Staff, www.eSermons.com An Inventory of Blessings Perhaps Daniel Defoe gave us some good advice through his fictitious character Robinson Crusoe. The first thing that Crusoe did when he found himself on a deserted island was to make out a list. On one side of the list he wrote down all his problems. On the other side of the list he wrote down all of his blessings. On one side he wrote: I do not have any clothes. On the other side he wrote: But it's warm and I don't really need any. On one side he wrote: All of the provisions were lost. On the other side he wrote: But there's plenty of fresh fruit and water on the island. And on down the list he went. In this fashion he discovered that for every negative aspect about his situation, there was a positive aspect, something to be thankful for. It is easy to find ourselves on an island of despair. Perhaps it is time that we sit down and take an inventory of our blessings. I well imagine that there are some of us here this morning that are long, long overdue in expressing our thanks to God. Sermons.com Staff, ChristianGlobe Illustrations So speaking of counting out blessings, Deuteronomy is the perfect story for us this morning. We have been following the story of the Hebrews and how moses led them out of slavery into the wilderness in search of the promisedland. We have been following their struggles as a people. This by the way is the last story that we will hear in that journey. This is the last Sunday of the lectionary year. Next week is the first Sunday of advent and we start reading the book of Isaiah. In this passage, Moses calls the community together for a lesson on remembering God. Deuteronomy was actually written much later than Moses, but it is written in the voice of Moses. In this passage the people have arrived to the land of milk and honey, the promise has been fulfilled, and they are living in peace and happiness. Usually when things are going well, that is the time that we forget about God. We forget to be faithful. We start to rely on our own power to do everything. There was a man who noticed that a bus of young people was stranded on the side of the road. They were on their way to a mission trip and the bus broke down. Being a Christian himself, the man offered to take them to his church, let them sleep for the night, he ordered pizza for them and made sure they slept and got another church member to come and fix the bus. As they were ready to continue their journey – one of the leaders said – I sure thank God for all that God did for us last night. The man thought to himself – God didn’t do anything – I did all of the work. You should thank me. When you are salt of the earth people – you learn to rely on yourself. You work hard, you do what you can, you move forward in life and you stay faithful. The temptation in that is not so much forgetting about God, but in being self reliant – thinking that you are responsible for your own destiny. It was your hard work that got you where you are – not God. And sometimes it takes something, or some event or somebody to remind us that it is time to count our blessings. Moses calls the community together to remind them to count their blessings. He reminds them of all that God has brought them through. He tells them not to forget God, not to forget their history, not to forget that we did anything to be God’s chosen people, and not to forget that everything that we have is a gift from God – even our self reliance. Moses says – don’t think to yourself, my own strength and abilities have produced all this prosperity for me. Remember the lord your God! He is the one who gives you the strength to be prosperous. We can give thanks to God in all things at anytime – whether it is July or November. Everyday is Thanksgiving. It has taken me this long in life to realize Thanksgiving is an American holiday. Canada has thanksgiving – their harvest time is a little earlier, so it is in October. But no other country celebrates. And that first thanksgiving was actually 1942 – not during the time of the pilgrims. I think it was Roosevelt who declared that thanksgiving would be the third Thursday of November. George Washington declared a national thanksgiving, and then abraham Lincoln made a proclamation that we could have a national holiday in November giving thanks. And finally Roosevelt declared the exact time and stopped the presidential proclamations. And the rest his history. Of course this is a very strange time in history for our country and for the world. This thanksgiving, instead of telling us to gather together and be family, told to stay apart and be safe. And yet even in these circumstances, we can take the time to count our blessings and to give glory to God for what we have. The concept of thanksgiving is timeless. It is a good time to remember gratitude, grace and generosity. IT is a good time to remember God as the source of everything good in our lives. A little later, we will sing the song now thank we all our God. It is a staple of the thanksgiving season. The song was written in the 1600’s by a Lutheran pastor in Germany. The country was at war and he lived in small walled village. The village become a safe haven for many who came for safety and security. Soon the town because crowded with people. We all know what happens when you walk into a crowd. – there is the potential that if one get sick, everyone does. That is what happened, there was a plague and famine that killed many people. Soon he was the only pastor in town. He buried over 4000 people that year, including his wife and family. Instead of falling into despair – he wrote the words to this song. It was a perfect time to stop and to count his blessings – and to thank God for all things in life. In everything give thanks to God – God is the source of all good things. Let us pray….. Thanksgiving Prayer Prayer for Pandemic Gratitude Inspired by Deuteronomy 8:7-18 and 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 O God, bring us to that good land full of your living water and the abundance of good things. Bring us to that place where we might be full and satisfied because this nagging feeling is exhausting. This constant agonizing feeling that nothing will get better and nobody cares because we can't agree on what love looks like now just needs to stop. We are not cheerful. Don't ask that of us, O God, because we don't have that in us. Sorry. It's true. Skip ahead to the part where we give to the poor and multiply the seeds for the farmers and bread bakers except that we've confused what we can do in this great and terrible pandemic wilderness with what you can do. Remind us that gratitude doesn't have to turn over every table but only had to turn our hearts to notice the indescribable wonder of living in your love. O God, with every breath in our bodies, help us to live in our love enough to praise you with thanksgiving. Amen. Song for Reflection Now Thank We all Our God UMH 102 Announcements Last Sunday of the year. Next week is advent – start reading the book of Mark. Advent discipline is to read a chapter of Mark a day. Receiving worship bags to help with advent and Christmas. More details about that in days to come. Next week our reading is Mark 13:24-37 song People Look East UMH 202 Happy Thanksgiving – be happy, be safe, be grateful Benediction 1 Community Time Benediction 2 As we go out to meet a hungry world, know that God will give us what we need. We go forth to make ready as we wait. The Holy One, whose love turns fear aside, will show us what to do. Keep watch! The risen Christ is on the way! Amen. Children’s Sermon Object: A dictionary Good morning, boys and girls. The gift of speech is one of the most precious gifts in the world. Once upon a time, a few years ago, all you could say was, "Da-da" and "Ma-ma." But most of you now speak about 18,000 words a day. Can you believe that? 18,000 words--and you still won't use most of the words in this dictionary. Eighteen thousand words a day. Have you ever thought how many of those words are good words, and how many are not so good? I hope most of your words are good words. I want to point out the most important word in this dictionary. It's over on page ( ). It is spelled, T-H-A-N-K-S. What did I just spell? That's right, thanks. One of the best things you can do in life is to learn to say thanks. It helps people like you better. And it shows that you do appreciate the nice things other people do for you. I don't know a more important word. And I don't know anybody who deserves our thanks more than God. Why? Because God gave us everything we have. Sunshine, air, rain, food to eat, people who love us, and much, much more. So let's not forget, especially when we are saying our prayers, to say the most important word in the dictionary. What is it? That's right, Thanks! And thank you for being here this morning. Dynamic Preaching, Collected Sermons, by King Duncan Additional Illustrations The Gratitude Attitude In A Second Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul, Rev. John R. Ramsey tells how in one church a certain person provided him with a rose boutonniere for the lapel of his suit every Sunday. At first he really appreciated it but then it sort of became routine. Then one Sunday it became very special. As he was leaving the Sunday Service a young boy walked up to him and said, "Sir, what are you going to do with your flower?" At first the preacher didn't know what the boy was talking about. When it sank in, he pointed to the rose on his lapel and asked the boy, "Do you mean this?" The boy said, "Yes, sir. If you're just going to throw it away, I would like it." The preacher smiled and told him he could have the flower and then casually asked what he was going to do with it. The boy, who was probably no more than 10 years old, looked up at the preacher and said, "Sir, I'm going to give it to my granny. My mother and father divorced last year. I was living with my mother, but she married again, and wanted me to live with my father. I lived with him for a while, but he said I couldn't stay, so he sent me to live with my grandmother. She is so good to me. She cooks for me and takes care of me. She has been so good to me that I wanted to give her that pretty flower for loving me." When the little boy finished, the preacher could hardly speak. His eyes filled with tears and he knew he had been touched by God. He reached up and unpinned the rose. With the flower in his hand, he looked at the boy and said, "Son, that is the nicest thing that I've ever heard but you can't have this flower because it's not enough. If you'll look in front of the pulpit, you'll see a big bouquet of flowers. Different families buy them for the Church each week. Please take those flowers to your granny because she deserves the very best." Then the boy made one last statement which Rev. Ramsey said he will always treasure. The boy said, "What a wonderful day! I asked for one flower but got a beautiful bouquet." That's the thankful spirit. That's the gratitude attitude. And it's that attitude that should guide our giving and our lives. Like that boy's granny, God has blessed us so much. God has been so good to us that giving shouldn't even be a question. It should just flow from us naturally. John R. Ramsey, Second Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul. Adapted by Billy D. Strayhorn, “The Gratitude Attitude" Better Not Bitter If we are not thankful then we can become bitter. If we are not thankful, then it becomes too easy to sit around and ponder the question: why me? Dr. Jim Moore, retired pastor of St. Luke’s UMC in Houston wrote a book entitled "You Can Grow Bitter or You Can Grow Better". He writes that he got the idea for the title from a young woman who once came to him in a most tragic moment in her life. She had tears in her eyes and her knuckles were white as she twisted a handkerchief. She had just received word that her twenty-six year old husband had been killed in a farming accident, leaving her alone with three pre-school age children. One moment he was alive and vibrant, the next moment gone. "I don't know how I am going to be able to get along without him," she sobbed. "But I do know one thing. I can either get bitter or I can get better." One way that we can get better rather than bitter is to develop a thankful heart. We must learn to be grateful to the Lord with whom we shall spend eternity. Our morning prayer should always begin: O Thou who has given me so much, I pray that you give me yet one more thing--a grateful heart. Staff, www.eSermons.com God’s Provision The words "harvest" and "thanksgiving" are linked together in many cultures. Most who till the soil know that our feeble human efforts do not produce crops; crops require sun and rain and other variables that are beyond our control. The early settlers and the indigenous people they found here also recognized the importance of God's provision for survival. Hundreds of years later, a commemorative meal serves as a reminder for us to thank God for those things necessary for our survival. Safiyah Fosua Thankful In All Things Our forefathers were not so much thankful for something as they were thankful in something. In bounty or in want they were thankful. In feast or in famine they were thankful. In joy or in misery they were thankful. There is a big difference between being thankful for things and being thankful in all things. Our closing hymn this morning was carefully selected. It was written in 1607 by a German by the name of Martin Reinkardht. The name of the hymn is "Now Thank We All Our God." In the year that Rinkardht wrote that hymn it is interesting to note that over 6000 persons in his German village, including his wife and his children, died of pestilence. Yet, in the midst of that catastrophic social and personal loss Reinkardht set down to pen this great hymn of praise: Now thank we all our God, with hearts and hands and voices.' The Christian faith affirms that in the midst of everything--in death, in loss, in hardship--we are to turn to God in praise. Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com First National Thanksgiving Proclamation Whereas, it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; Whereas, both the houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness!" Now therefore, I do recommend next, to be devoted by the people of the states to the service of that great and glorious being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be, that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country. George Washington, 1779. The attitude of gratitude is important for several reasons: Thankfulness acknowledges that God is our provider. Thankfulness prevents a complaining spirit. Thankfulness creates a positive outlook on life Thankfulness invites joy to dwell in our hearts. Kent Crockett, Making Today Count for Eternity, pp. 161. Thanksgiving Sermon Opener This morning I would like to hold up for you three different scenes. The strange thing about these scenarios is that when you first hear them you will be hard pressed to understand why I selected these stories to exemplify Thanksgiving. On the surface they will seem to be the antithesis of Thanksgiving. Yet, I am convinced that at the heart of these stories is the real Biblical understanding of what it means to be thankful. The first scene comes from the Old Testament. It is the familiar story of Job. Job has come to represent for us the epitome of suffering. Near the end of the story we see that all of his children have been killed in an accident; he is facing financial ruin; he has been stricken with illness. In fact, it seems that if any person is justified in saying: Let's just skip Thanksgiving this year it would be Job. Yet, in the midst of all of this immeasurable suffering the voice of God comes to Job and says to him a very interesting statement. We read it in the 37th chapter the 14th verse. God says to Job: "Hear this O Job. Stop and consider the wondrous works of God." From all outward circumstances it seems as though Job has nothing at all to be thankful for yet here is God coming to him in the midst of it all and saying in effect, Job, it's time to count your blessings. Let's leave that story for a moment and take a look at a second. This one comes from the New Testament, the book of Ephesians. The Apostle Paul now finds himself squarely in the midst of a dingy Roman prison and facing serious charges. Things seem very bad indeed for Paul. But this is only one of a series of mishaps that has occurred during his stormy ministry. He has been shipwrecked, beaten nearly to death, imprisoned, and even many of his fellow Christians are now openly opposing him. Now he faces what surely seems to be a death sentence. In the midst of this situation Paul writes the Christians in Ephesus. Listen to what he has to say, "Thanks be to God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every blessing." Strange words from a man facing execution. Like Job, we are forced to ask the question What has he to be thankful for? Staff, www.eSermons.com Now Thank We All Our God You can even be thankful during the most difficult of circumstances in life. It's true! We see an especially inspiring example of a brave and thankful heart in the story behind one of the church's most popular hymns, "Now Thank We All Our God." This particularly hymn was written during the Thirty Years War in Germany, in the early 1600s. Its author was Martin Rinkart, a Lutheran pastor in the town of Eilenburg in Saxony. Now, Eilenburg was a walled city, so it became a haven for refugees seeking safety from the fighting. But soon, the city became too crowded and food was in short supply. Then, a famine hit and a terrible plague and Eilenburg became a giant morgue. In one year alone, Pastor Rinkart conducted funerals for 4,500 people, including his own wife. The war dragged on; the suffering continued. Yet through it all, he never lost courage or faith and even during the darkest days of Eilenburg's agony, he was able to write this hymn: Now thank we all our God, with hearts and hands and voices, Who wondrous things hath done, In whom the world rejoices ...[So] keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed, and free us from all ills, in this world and the next. Even when he was waist deep in destruction, Pastor Rinkart was able to lift his sights to a higher plane. He kept his mind on God's love when the world was filled with hate. He kept his mind on God's promises of heaven when the earth was a living hell. Can we not do the same - we whose lives are almost trouble-free, compared with the man who wrote that hymn? Whom can you say "thank you" to? Erskine White, Together in Christ __________________________________ An Inventory of Blessings Perhaps Daniel Defoe gave us some good advice through his fictitious character Robinson Crusoe. The first thing that Crusoe did when he found himself on a deserted island was to make out a list. On one side of the list he wrote down all his problems. On the other side of the list he wrote down all of his blessings. On one side he wrote: I do not have any clothes. On the other side he wrote: But it's warm and I don't really need any. On one side he wrote: All of the provisions were lost. On the other side he wrote: But there's plenty of fresh fruit and water on the island. And on down the list he went. In this fashion he discovered that for every negative aspect about his situation, there was a positive aspect, something to be thankful for. It is easy to find ourselves on an island of despair. Perhaps it is time that we sit down and take an inventory of our blessings. I well imagine that there are some of us here this morning that are long, long overdue in expressing our thanks to God. Sermons.com Staff, ChristianGlobe Illustrations Deuteronomy 8:7-18

Life Goes On

November 15, 2020 Judges 4:1-7 Life goes on 24th Sunday after Pentecost Year A Opening Song Welcome Call to Worship inspired by Psalm 123 O God, you have been our help in ages past. You’ve reminded us what was possible and pushed us beyond our fears. You’ve raised our eyes to higher groundand made our hearts soar with the hope of years to come. Be our guard while these troubles last and dare us to dream in this new day. Surprise us, O God, with good trouble in our worship this day. Stewardship Moment Offertory With great joy we receive our morning offering today. This is a vital reminder of the many ways in which we can serve God through the ministries and mission of this church. Let us joyfully receive this morning’s offering. Prayer of Dedication Lord of blessings and hope, we give to you these gifts as tokens of our lives. Use these gifts for healing and hope in your world. Use us as instruments of peace; for we ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen. Scripture Judges 4:1-7 Deborah, Barak, and Jael 4 After Ehud had died, the Israelites again did things that the LORD saw as evil. 2 So the LORD gave them over to King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, and he was stationed in Harosheth-ha-goiim. 3 The Israelites cried out to the LORD because Sisera[a] had nine hundred iron chariots and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly for twenty years. 4 Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth,[b] was a leader of Israel at that time. 5 She would sit under Deborah’s palm tree between Ramah and Bethel in the Ephraim highlands, and the Israelites would come to her to settle disputes. 6 She sent word to Barak, Abinoam’s son, from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “Hasn’t the LORD, Israel’s God, issued you a command? ‘Go and assemble at Mount Tabor, taking ten thousand men from the people of Naphtali and Zebulun with you. 7 I’ll lure Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, to assemble with his chariots and troops against you at the Kishon River, and then I’ll help you overpower him.’” Sermon Life Goes On One of the challenges of preaching from the lectionary, is that after 3 years, you have already preached all of your sermons on the scriptures. And you have to strive to be come up with a new message every year. I have always worked to be creative and to come up with new messages every Sunday, so that I don’t get caught in a sermon rut. So today is very interesting. I have honestly never preached a sermon on the book of Judges. So this is truly a first. As I said before, this is the only time in the three year lectionary that Judges even comes up. The title of my sermon is Life Goes On. For the last weeks we have been following the history of the Israelites out of Egypt into forming an identity as a people. We heard about Moses leadership, and eventual death. Last week we heard the story of his predecessor Joshua. At the end of his rule, Joshua makes one last appeal to a generation that he did not understand to stay united and to follow God. The first chapter of Judges beings by saying that Joshua died, and there was no obvious leader to rise up and to keep the Isrealites united and focused. So they move away, they come in contact with other cultures, they are not as connected as a family. Each person kinda goes their own way and does what they think is best. A new form of leadership emerges – it is more democratic. When there is a dispute or disagreement – they go to a judge. The Book of Judges is a story of 12 judges, 6 major judges and 6 minor judges. We have all heard the story of Samson and Delilah – Samson was the last judge. Our Scripture for today – is the story of the 4th judge – Deborah. I had never heard Deborah’s story until seminary. Deborah was a married woman. But she has a huge reputation of being a fair judge. People came from miles around, to sit under the Deborah tree with her, as she make judgements and settled disputes. Interestingly, history does not make a big deal about the fact that she is a woman. Her story stands out because oppressors have been making the people miserable for years. And Deborah has a strategy to defeat them and to free the people. Chapters 4 and 5 are her story. Her leadership is important because she recognizes the gifts of others, and empowers them to be true heros. She leads by example. Ronald Sisk remembers his first pastorate in rural Kentucky. The church possessed an old-fashioned belfry with a bell that could be rung by pulling on a rope. This fascinated him. In his mind, he envisioned ringing that bell every Sunday morning, calling the faithful to worship, and announcing faithful witness to the community at large. However, when he asked about the bell, he was told the sad tale that the bell had not been rung in years. "That bell keeps rusting, pastor," one of the men of the church explained, "the roof is high and steep and we can't get anybody to crawl up there and grease it." Ron admits that he was both "young and stupid." One Saturday morning, he climbed the roof, crab crawling his way to the belfry with a can of grease. His wife stood on the ground thirty feet below holding a safety rope. He got it greased and made it down safely. Several church members saw their new, young pastor on the roof of the church that day. By the next day, the new pastor's stunt was the talk of the congregation. Before church was over that morning, at least two members of the building and grounds committee made a point of telling their pastor, "You don't have to worry about that bell next time, pastor. That's our job." Ron proudly claimed, "We rang the bell every Sunday for the rest of my tenure with that congregation."2 Deborah’s story is the story of how every day people became heroes because they were willing to do what is necessary. Barak goes into battle to destroy the oppressor. He fights diligently, but does not kill the leader. Deborah tells him that he is not intended for that role – Jalil a young women finds the leader in her tent and drives a stake into him. When Barak says that he must destroy the leader, Jalil says it is already taken care of - all in a days work. Its gory – but Jael becomes the hero of the story – just by doing what was necessary in a time of need. The story of how the Hebrews developed is the story of their relationship of God and also a story of leadership. A charismatic leader brought them out of Egypt. When he is gone, they are told not to have a strong leader, because they are supposed to put God first as their leader. Eventually, they would choose a king to lead them, but that is down the road. The form of leadership evolves with the needs of the community. Those who step up for leadership are responding to those needs? What are the needs of our church, our community our world? What leadership will respond to those needs? Judges is actually a pretty long book. It is 21 chapters. Many of the stories are pretty gory and even upsetting with its level of violence. But it teaches some very important lessons about leadership and in many cases lack of leadership. There is one overarching lesson in the book of Judges. It seems that over and over again in all circumstances, the people get sidetracked and forget to put God first. God gets mad at them and punishes them by sending an oppressor. They cry out to God, a leader emerges to lead them to freedom. Lives get better and life goes on. Debbie’s story is an important example of that. I think one reason that the lectionary designers left this story out of the 3 year cycle is because it is pretty gory. This is all that we know about Deborah. But it teaches us some important lessons as we look at our lives, our times and our leadership. • In tough times, When we cry out – God sends a leader to get us through • Salvation comes from unexpected places. No one would have expected a woman to be the leader in such an important battle. Even in its goriness, this is a powerful story. Barak, the general is afraid to go into battle, so he asks Deborah to go with him. Deborah tells him to destroy the oppressive leader. Barak kills all of his followers, but not the leader. Deborah tells him that it will be a woman who kills the leader. Barak just happens to talk to the oppressors wife telling her that her husband must be killed. It’s the wife that tells him – already done – killed him last night. No one would have expected that – but that was the one who God chose to the work. • When we battle the oppressor we don’t go out alone • Author Ann Lemott notices that when God wants to bring change – God starts the work in hardship and hardtimes • As a leader, Deborah did not do all of the work herself – she was able to empower others to be leaders on their own. • Deborah’s strength as a leader came from her willingness to be herself, and to do what she could. It is said that heroes are not those who stand apart. Heroes are just ordinary people who were willing to address the needs in their lives. Heroes are not the outspoken, but the humble. • Sometimes we may never know that names and stories of the heroes that saved us, but God calls us to be a nameless part of history in order to empower nameless others. Fred Craddock enjoys sharing the story of a time he returned to the little church of his childhood.3 He had not visited there in years, and walking into the sanctuary, he was surprised to discover that they had purchased new stained-glass windows. Inscribed at the bottom of each was the name of the donor, but to his dismay, Craddock was not familiar with any of them. "You must have had a good many folks join this congregation since I was a boy," Fred remarked to a woman after the worship service, "because I don't recognize a single name." "Oh, those people aren't members here," she said. "This town hasn't grown a bit since you were a child, and for that matter neither has our church." "Then how did you get these beautiful windows?" "Well, it's kind of an interesting story," she said with a smile. "You see, they were made by an Italian company for a church in St. Louis. Unfortunately, when they arrived, none of them fit. The company apologized, of course, and said they would make new windows. But they were too expensive to ship back, and so the company told the church in St. Louis to sell them wherever they could. We bought the windows from them." "But don't you want to remove these names?" asked Fred. "Well, we thought about it," the woman explained. "We even discussed it at the board meeting. We're just a little church, you know. Not many of us here, never any new people. So we finally decided that it was important for us to remember all these folks we'll never meet, through whom the Lord is working in ways we'll never know." I think that we all have to ask ourselves how is God calling us to be leaders? What are the needs in our lives that God is calling us to respond to? What are the obvious things in our world that we could easily do. Life Goes on in our actions. Let us pray…. Prayer Gracious and generous God, you are always with us, offering guidance, healing and hope. We know that with things seem dark or are dazzlingly bright; when troubled times assail or peace reigns; there you are with us. Continue to guide and challenge our lives. Lead us in pathways of service and away from trails of fear and anxiety. Open our hearts to receive your healing transforming love that we might serve you more faithfully; for we ask these things in Jesus’ name. AMEN. Lord’s Prayer Song for Reflection A Charge to Keep I Have UMH 413 Announcements Next week is the last Sunday of the Christian year before Advent. Instead of looking at Christ the King Scriptures, we will look at Thanksgiving scriptures. Our service will be based on Deuteronomy 8:7-18. The song for reflection will be Now Thank we all our God – hymnal 102 if you want to get the words. Will not meet, will look at the situation. Please stay safe We will decorate the church on November 28th – concentrate on outside decorations Benediction Community Time Benediction Closing Prayer/Sending Forth Go forth into God’s world as children of the light, offering ministries of hope and healing to a hurting world. Go forth filled with God’s abundant love. Go forth in peace. AMEN. Children’s Time – Do you know anyone names Deborah? Additional Illustrations Swimmy is just like all the other fish swimming in the large minnow school, except that while they are all reddish-gold, he is pure black. The school of little fish swims along peacefully until any larger predator fish comes along. Then whoosh all the little fish, including Swimmy, scatter. Swimmy begins to observe his watery neighbors and in each case, it seems that the big intimidate, bully and consume the small. What could one tiny little misfit fish do about that? Suddenly Swimmy got a brilliant idea. It is a plan that both celebrates his own unique style his solid black coloring and depends on the cooperative teamwork of all his minnow schoolmates. Swimmy organizes the school of all his little friends so that they are swimming in the shape of a large fish. Swimmy himself, his dark body flashing, creates the "eye" of this illusionary giant fish. In the last scene of the book, we see a huge would-be predator take one look at this intimidating mammoth and then turn tail and run (Frederick's Fables [New York: Pantheon Books, 1985], 71-79). Sometimes it only takes one problem, one barrier, to prevent us from claiming and keeping the "Promised Land" the Lord has intended us to inhabit. African-American preacher Buster Soaries likes to say that whatever the problem in your life it is your own personal "Goliath."

Life is Full of Choices

November 8, 2020 Joshua 24:1-3,14-25 23rd Sunday After Pentecost Year B Life is Full of Choices Opening Song Welcome Opening Prayer Contemporary Gathering Words (Matthew 25) (Each line could be read by a different voice.) It is time to wake up, for God is about to surprise us. It is time to prepare, for God's love is about to change the world. It is time to get ready, for God needs us to proclaim the good news. It is time to start planning, for God's invitation will fill our church. It is time to worship, for God is here now! Stewardship Moment Offertory Lord, as you have so abundantly blessed each of us, let us return a portion of these gifts in gratitude for all you have given to us. Let us receive our morning offering. Prayer of Dedication Lord, we return a portion of all the gifts you have given to us in remembrance and in gratitude for these blessings. Use these gifts to support ministries of healing and hope, for we ask this in Jesus’ name. AMEN. Scripture Joshua 24:1-3 Common English Bible What God has done 24 Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders of Israel, its leaders, judges, and officers. They presented themselves before God. 2 Then Joshua said to the entire people, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Long ago your ancestors lived on the other side of the Euphrates. They served other gods. Among them was Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor. 3 I took Abraham your ancestor from the other side of the Euphrates. I led him around through the whole land of Canaan. I added to his descendants and gave him Isaac. What God has done 24 Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders of Israel, its leaders, judges, and officers. They presented themselves before God. 2 Then Joshua said to the entire people, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Long ago your ancestors lived on the other side of the Euphrates. They served other gods. Among them was Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor. 3 I took Abraham your ancestor from the other side of the Euphrates. I led him around through the whole land of Canaan. I added to his descendants and gave him Isaac. 4 To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I gave Mount Seir to Esau to take over. But Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt. 5 Then I sent Moses and Aaron. I plagued Egypt with what I did to them. After that I brought you out. 6 I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, and you came to the sea. The Egyptians chased your ancestors with chariots and horses to the Reed Sea.[a] 7 Then they cried for help to the LORD. So he set darkness between you and the Egyptians. He brought the sea down on them, and it covered them. With your own eyes you saw what I did to the Egyptians. You lived in the desert for a long time. 8 “Then I brought you into the land of the Amorites who lived on the other side of the Jordan. They attacked you, but I gave them into your power, and you took over their land. I wiped them out before you. 9 Then Moab’s King Balak, Zippor’s son, set out to attack Israel. He summoned Balaam, Beor’s son, to curse you. 10 But I wasn’t willing to listen to Balaam, so he actually blessed you. I rescued you from his power. 11 Then you crossed over the Jordan. You came to Jericho, and the citizens of Jericho attacked you. They were Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites. But I gave them into your power. 12 I sent the hornet[b] before you. It drove them out before you and did the same to the two kings of the Amorites. It wasn’t your sword or bow that did this. 13 I gave you land on which you hadn’t toiled and cities that you hadn’t built. You settled in them and are enjoying produce from vineyards and olive groves that you didn’t plant. Challenge to be faithful 14 “So now, revere the LORD. Serve him honestly and faithfully. Put aside the gods that your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt and serve the LORD. 15 But if it seems wrong in your opinion to serve the LORD, then choose today whom you will serve. Choose the gods whom your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live. But my family and I will serve the LORD.” 16 Then the people answered, “God forbid that we ever leave the LORD to serve other gods! 17 The LORD is our God. He is the one who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. He has done these mighty signs in our sight. He has protected us the whole way we’ve gone and in all the nations through which we’ve passed. 18 The LORD has driven out all the nations before us, including the Amorites who lived in the land. We too will serve the LORD, because he is our God.” 19 Then Joshua said to the people, “You can’t serve the LORD, because he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He won’t forgive your rebellion and your sins. 20 If you leave the LORD and serve foreign gods, then he will turn around and do you harm and finish you off, in spite of having done you good in the past.” 21 Then the people said to Joshua, “No! The LORD is the one we will serve.” 22 So Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD.” They said, “We are witnesses!” 23 “So now put aside the foreign gods that are among you. Focus your hearts on the LORD, the God of Israel.” 24 The people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God and will obey him.” Joshua makes a covenant 25 On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people and established just rule for them at Shechem. Sermon I don’t think it is just me, I think it has been a crazy out of control week for most of us. This is the first time ever that there has been a whole week of 70 degree weather in November – to distract us from staying inside all day. And now that we are starting to gather indoors more – the cases of COVID are skyrocketing. Many of my colleagues have been talking about just tearing up their sermons for the week and dealing with the divisiveness in our country in the midst of an election. No matter who would have won, there would have been deep feelings on either side. Many decided to talk about the results of the presidential election. Lucky for me, I don’t put my sermon on paper until Saturday night. But also my message has not changed because of the events of the day. My message is still to love Jesus, serve Jesus, keep the faith in all circumstances. A little boy asked his busy mother to help him find something to do. So the mother found a large map of the United States on a page in a magazine. With a pair of scissors, she cut up the map into small pieces like a puzzle. Then she gave the pieces and some tape to her son and challenged him to put it together. The youngster returned in almost no time with the map together. Mother was amazed and said, "Son, how did you get that entire map of the United States together so fast?" The youngster said, "It was easy. On the back of the map was a picture of a family. So I turned it over and started to work. Once I got the family put together, the country turned out just right." Faith, service, trust brings us together. As long as we all follow Jesus, he keeps us united in spite of who we are and where we stand. The whole point of Christian community is to learn to keep the faith with people that you disagree with and whom you may not even like, but you know God loves. Our scripture for today comes from the book of Joshua. Now you may not realize that Jesus is the latin version of the name Joshua – meaning God saves. Now when Joshua in our story, came from Egypt in the great exodus – his name was Hoshea. Even as a young man, Moses noticed something special in him – a certain kind of holiness. A devotion to God. So when Moses took him in as his confidante and body guard, he changed his name to Joshua. The adult Sunday school is having a 4 week class on Joshua by the way if you want to know more. I love the challenge of Joshua 24 – choose who you are going to serve. I have a sign in my house that says – As for me and my house I choose to serve the Lord. Before learning the story of Joshua now, I always pictured this scene at Shecem where Joshua gathers the people, happening while Joshua was a young strong soldier, challenging the community to serve God. And as head of a household telling people that he had made that choice for his family. When actually, this story happens after Moses death. Joshua has been leading for 28 years, and now he is an older man. As a matter of fact, this is two years before Joshua dies at 110. By this time there was a generation gap between him and the majority of the families he was leading. Back in his day, it was assumed that you were faithful and that you loved God. Your family had no choice but to go to the tabernacle. In the wilderness of course you were faithful to God – you had no choice. But this generation was settled, they did not have to rely on God for survival, and there were other tribes that they could relate to. With this new life came choices – choices of what to do with you time and even of what to believe. It is sort of like in modern times, when young families can decide between church, sleeping in, or sports. True story – Chris, a young lady was in the confirmation class. In order to be confirmed they all needed to meet with the church elders. Chris did not show up for that meeting because she had a soccer game at the same time. Everyone else attended. When it was time for them to have class, everyone but Chris showed up. Her family had planned a trip for that Sunday, and they would not reschedule. When it came time for her to be confirmed, the elders chose not to allow her. They said that given the choices that she was making with her time, that perhaps she was not ready to become a member of the church. Being long time members of the church, of course the family was furious that this decision had been made. Life is full of choices, sometimes the choices that we make are not so much about right and wrong, good and bad. Sometimes both choices are good. But many times one of those choices doesn’t involve God. Joshua was giving the message that we should chose God in all that we do, But he also warned not to choose God lightly. God takes our choice very serious. Every choice that we make has consequences, every choice that we make has responsibilities, every choice that we make involves change. As I said, as a young man, Moses saw that Joshua was a man of faith. When Joshua became a soldier, and worked with Moses – He had to take a personal vow to be a servant of God. That personal vow made all of the difference in the world. Now as he is trying to get the community to be united under God – he realizes that the community has to take that same vow to put God before the world. In the midst of all of the choices that they had to live, He wants them to choose God. Interestingly, this is the first time that the people have been given a choice to serve. In all of the Hebrew Bible stories, It is God who makes the choice, and the people who follow along. That is not a real personal choice. I taught confirmation class for many years. And I always stressed to parents that I was trying to get the child to make a choice for themselves. When my son went through confirmation, I told him that it was his decision to make, as long as he made the right choice. In which case we would have to resort to other measures. He chose to be confirmed, so all is well that ends well. But of course as an adult, he does not attend church on a regular basis. Joshua wants to make sure that the people stay faithful long after he is gone. Joshua’s challenge was not a beginning, it was an end. He knew he couldn’t lead them much longer. There was not an obvious leader to pass the mantle on to . He was not giving direction on what the future holds for them. He didn’t give them any answers about what comes next. All he did was to challenge them to choose whom they were going to serve in the midst of the uncertaintly. A lot of times, when we are uncertain about the present, we look into the future, and we don’t see God anywhere. We start to panick and think that God has abandoned us. Have you ever noticed that in those times, the only way that you can regocnize God’s presence is to look back at the past, and see that God was there all of the time. Some years ago, I heard the poignant story of a woman struggling to reestablish a relationship with her father.2 "When I was a child," she recalled, "my dad and I were as close as we could be. And the times I knew it best would be at those family reunions, when after the big meal, they'd move all the furniture, crank up the stereo, and start playing polka records -- one after another. Eventually, someone would put on the 'Beer Barrel Polka.' It was our special song. And my father would come over with outstretched hand and say, 'Come on, girl, let's roll them blues away!' And we'd dance -- my father and I -- we'd dance. "As a teenager, however, I started to despise the silliness of those family get-togethers. I remember one occasion in particular when, for reasons known only to adolescents, I sat moping on the sofa in one of those don't-associate-with-anybody moods. As the 'Beer Barrel Polka' began to play, my father came over with outstretched hand. But I glared at him with icy indifference. 'Just leave me alone,' I muttered under my breath. Startled, he turned, and never invaded my privacy again. He danced with my mother, he danced with my sisters, but not with me. "I'd come home from a date, and he'd be waiting for me in the old chair -- his bathrobe loosely tied at the waist, an opened book in his lap, half asleep. 'What are you doing up?' I'd say. 'Why don't you just go to bed?' He'd look at me with sad, pleading eyes and whisper, 'I was just waiting for you, that's all. I was just waiting for you.' "I was glad to leave that house when I finally graduated high school. My father and I had a distant, formal relationship, but not much more. Eventually, though, I began to miss what we had once enjoyed -- only I wasn't quite sure how to bridge the gap. Until one day, when I happened to be home for a family reunion, somebody put on the 'Beer Barrel Polka.' As my father walked across the room, I went up to him with outstretched hand and said, 'Daddy, I believe this is our dance.' He looked at me and smiled, 'I've been waiting for you. I've been waiting for you.' " "As for me and my household," Joshua proclaims, "we will serve the Lord." Are there any other takers? The choice is ours. The time is now. And all of heaven waits .... Some people say that all of us give attention to at least four basic relationships throughout our lives: our relationship with God, our relationship with ourselves, our relationship with others, and our relationship with what’s around us, or in other words, our relationship with things. Each of these relationships takes some of our time and demands a certain portion of our energies. Figuring out which relationship matters most can be tricky. Of course, in those 4 relationships, there are 4 types of choices to make. Joshua’s message to us in the modern area, facing an uncertain future, is that when we choose God first – everything else falls into place. I tell that story to let you know that there will be times when we will Forget, Neglect and Turn Away. But hear the Good News. God will not forsake us or leave us. Hear the Good News, God will continue to call us and remind us of God's promises. Hear the Good News God will continue to offer forgiveness and a way home; if we will turn to God and Remember, Remind and Recommit. CSS Publishing Company, Inc., From the Pulpit, by Billy D. Strayhorn Let us pray……. Prayer Knowing we won’t know and sitting in the not knowing are not the same. We are in this together, for the short term and the long haul. We see each other, and we know that the only path to wholeness is through the rough terrain of truth-telling and repair work that will be required no matter the outcome of this election. We will feed each other and care for one another, meeting despair with tender compassion and anxiety with deep peace. We will reach for the visions and dreamcasts of our ancestors and conspire for a kind of peace and liberation that will set us loose in ways our opponents can’t even imagine. Breathe now, so you are restored for the resistance. Breathe deep, so you are grounded in love. Take courage, and remember, you are not alone. Rev. Shawna Bowman Lord’s Prayer Song for Reflection The Battle Hymn of the Republic Announcements Benediction Community Time Benediction Closing Prayer/Sending Forth Hold back and wonder what might have been; choose God and rejoice in the many ways you will see God’s love in the world. It’s all about choices — which will you choose? This answer can make all the difference in your life. Go in peace! AMEN. Children’s Sermon Additional Illustrations An old Reader's Digest story told of a man who flew his own plane but got tired of the long auto trip from the airport to his country place which was situated on a lovely lake. So he equipped his plane with pontoons so he could land right in front of his cottage. However, on his first trip up to the country with his newly-equipped plane, he headed for a landing at the airport just as he always had done in the past. Old habits are hard to break. But just as he was going in for the landing it dawned on his wife what was happening and she hollered, "What do you think you're doing? You can't land this thing on the runway. You don't have any wheels, you've got pontoons on it!" Fortunately, her warning shout was in time and he pulled up from his landing pattern, swung the airplane around, and headed the plane for a landing on the lake. After the plane landed safely on the lake he heaved a really big sigh of relief, turned to his wife and said, "That's about the stupidest thing I've ever done!" And then he opened the door, stepped out and fell directly into the lake." I tell that story to let you know that there will be times when we will Forget, Neglect and Turn Away. But hear the Good News. God will not forsake us or leave us. Hear the Good News, God will continue to call us and remind us of God's promises. Hear the Good News God will continue to offer forgiveness and a way home; if we will turn to God and Remember, Remind and Recommit. CSS Publishing Company, Inc., From the Pulpit, by Billy D. Strayhorn Another issue just as important as the generation gap has to be brought up before we dive into the story told in Joshua 24. The issue in mind has to do with the relationships we nurture across the years. Our nation will stand strong or feebly fall on the foundation of its homes. If moral and spiritual decay continue to nibble away at the fiber of American family life, then the downfall of this country is approaching rapidly. But if you and I, as Believers, will set an example by constantly working to create strong Christian homes for our families, there may be hope for the future. How true that is! The strength of our nation depends on the strength of our families. Let us be challenged today to work hard to make our houses into homes,... where positive Christian values are transmitted from one generation to the next;... where friends are welcomed and children are more valuable than furniture;... where undesirable pressures are kept out, and where Jesus Christ is kept centralThat's how you make a house a home! C.S.S. Publishing Company, HOME IS A FOUR-LETTER WORD, by R. E. Lybrand

Infinite life, love, peace

All Saint’s Day November 1, 2020 Revelation 7:7-19 Year A Opening Song Welcome Opening Prayer Let us begin our lament here, O God, in an act of memory for all that has happened, in all that we could not believe was possible as good people, as people who had never known how far and wide a virus could actually reach , as people who that we had enough faith. Show us what we do not want to remember and what we cannot bear to remember. After so much has been lost in a few short months. O God, let us begin here in all full lament. By Elsa Cook Lighting of the Christ Candle Stewardship Moment November 1, 2020 – Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost (All Saints’ Day Observed) Loving Father, we humbly dedicate these tithes and offerings to your use. Like the saints who have gone before us, we are comforted by the knowledge that you will multiply these gifts. Allow this money to become a resource that lifts the shadows of despair from the recesses of people’s lives. We recognize that only you can restore faith to the faithless, hope to the hopeless, and love to the loveless. May your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven! Amen. I Thessalonians 2:9-13 Scripture Revelation 7:9-17 Common English Bible The great crowd and seventh seal 9 After this I looked, and there was a great crowd that no one could number. They were from every nation, tribe, people, and language. They were standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They wore white robes and held palm branches in their hands. 10 They cried out with a loud voice: “Victory belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” 11 All the angels stood in a circle around the throne, and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell facedown before the throne and worshipped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and always. Amen.” 13 Then one of the elders said to me, “Who are these people wearing white robes, and where did they come from?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” Then he said to me, “These people have come out of great hardship. They have washed their robes and made them white in the Lamb’s blood. 15 This is the reason they are before God’s throne. They worship him day and night in his temple, and the one seated on the throne will shelter them. 16 They won’t hunger or thirst anymore. No sun or scorching heat will beat down on them, 17 because the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them. He will lead them to the springs of life-giving water,[a] and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” Sermon Infinite life, love and Peace – Rev. Harriette Cross Infinity is an ancient concept that life, time, God, energy, are all quantities that are too deep for us to number. I learned a while ago, way before seminary that in the Jewish world view, the past, the present, and the future are all happening at the same time on different levels. It just depends on where you are on the infinity circle. It’s moments like today when we remember, that it seems that we are looking back at the past, feeling the present, and wondering what the future holds all at the same time. I think that every moment in life has a little bit of the past, the present and future in it. John writes the book of Revelation through the lense of infinity. Revelation is full of symbolism that is a little creepy to the modern mind. He is trying to give his congregation hope, but he speaks in such a round about way. We can’t help but to wonder why he needs to be so outrageous to explain his present situation. Lately, as I study and read the bible, through my own lense – the pandemic. I have been fascinated about how much the bible both old and new testament have to say about a pandemic. First let me explain through comparison what a pandemic is. An outbreak is something that effects a group of people. It is serious, but it only affects certain people and it can be contained to that particular group. An epidemic is something that affect a larger group of people, even a whole nation but it can still be contained. A pandemic is something that is universal and affects all people and cannot be contained to a certain area. The World Health Organization declared our present situation a pandemic on March 11, 2020. I remember that announcement like it was yesterday. Back then we all had no idea of what that meant. Life was so different back then. As a pastor, I never thought I would have to deal with such heaviness in life, such grief. Not only are we mourning the loss of loved ones, we are mourning the loss of a lifestyle. My greatest fear as a pastor is that the suffering, the grief has just gotten started. I have had to do a lot of praying, asking for answers, and depending on God for direction. Only when I experienced a pandemic myself, can I understand why John would dig so deeply to find answers for his congregation. The book of Revelation is the story of the great tribulation. What else would you call a great tribulation – but a pandemic? A pandemic that not only threatens your life, but also your faith? The scripture for today takes place in heaven. God is on the glory throne, and people dressed in white surround him. Scripture even asks, who are these people who are dressed in white, waving palms praising God day and night. The answer – these are the people who have survived the great tribulation. White robes were a symbol of victory. They were the overcomers, the survivors, the faithful, those who made it through the tribulation. Scripture says that it was a number that couldn’t be counted – an infinite number. And they were from every nation, tribe, language. Maybe sometimes it takes a pandemic to help us to put aside our differences and to come together as one. In this case it was God who united them. Not only is God infinite, but love is infinite also. When we come together to praise God, there is no limit to what we can do, no limit to what we can overcome. The good news for the faithful is that God helps us to overcome our grief. John Wesley – the founder of methodism loved All Saint’s Day. As a matter of fact, he had a fascination with death. He would ask if he could be in the hospital with those who were dying to pray with them. He would then pray with this church members, to help them to learn to dye well. To die at peace, preparing with certainty to the time that they would die and be in the presence of God. Methodist got a reputation for knowing how to die well. Wesley believed that the key to dying well, was to live well. As a matter of fact, the book of Discipline talks about Wesley’s beliefs on death. For those who think that death will get you out of serving on a church committee – nope. Wesley believed that those who passed on worked just as hard as the living in the building of God’s Kingdom. Besides, they can’t say no, because they don’t have anything else to do. That is what the faithful do – spend day and night at the throne of God – working for the kingdom. There is nothing that separates us from the presence of God – not death, no suffering, not pain. I know that is a lot to process – but a pandemic sermon has to be short. The last lesson for us, is that hope is infinite also. Hope promises that pain and suffering will end. A mother lost her two year old daughter – and had to return to her home in Georgia to bury her. It was a pleasure to return to the peach trees, the blossoms, the smell. She remembered that her friends told her as a child that if you hold onto a peace stone in your hand long enough, it will sprout. Of course she never had the patience to hold onto the peach stone long enough to see if it would sprout. Until her daughter died, and she yearned for the day when she would be reunited. When she would see for herself that her daughter was okay. She has been holding onto that peach stone for ten years. Holding on to that peace stone helped her to understand the meaning of infinite hope. In this moment, in the midst of a pandemic, in the midst of our grief – as we remember the past, live in the present, look to thr future – May we be filled with the infinite love, peace, and hope of the lamb of God. Amen. Prayer Almighty God, your saints are one with you in the mystical body of Christ: give us grace to follow them in all virtue and holiness until we come to those inexpressible joys which you have prepared for those who truly love you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. Amen. Song for Reflection For all the Saints UMH 711 All Saints Day Ceremony After this I looked and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and people and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. Robed in white with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying, Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne and to the Lamb. Let us give thanks for these brothers and sisters in Christ to whom God has granted rest from their labors. Almighty God, we give you thanks for these your servants whom we remember today. Grant us grace to follow them as they followed Christ. Bring us, with them, to those things no eye has seen, nor ear heard, which you have prepared for those who love you. Give us faith to look beyond touch and sight, and seeing that we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, enable us to run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Bring us at last to your eternal peace, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Communion Invitation to Communion Siblings in Christ, join me today at this table to a feast belonging to Jesus the Christ. Siblings in Christ, join me today for a feast which will comfort our souls. Siblings in Christ, join me in this sacrament knowing that we will grow close to God, neighbor, and self at this table. Prayer of Communion Friends, we come to this bittersweet ritual today filled with a bundle of emotions. While our gratitude for this family of faith is plentiful, our spiritual pain still may be suffocating us at five weeks or four months or three years or even two decades after the death of our beloved. Our pews are a little lighter. Our homes are a quieter. And our hearts know well of the gaping hole resulting from our loss. Even as this void still consumes this day-to-day living, we come here looking for hope that we can find only in you. Through this meal, we connect the past and present together, knowing that generation after generation has come to this table in their joy and grief. God, we pray that this feast be one that fills our souls with comfort. Even as winter is growing close and nighttime arrives early, this meal will kindle warmth and light inside our spirits. May your Holy Spirit bless this bread and cup. May the Spirit bless us as we celebrate at the peaks of life and as we abide in the shadow-filled valleys. May the Spirit bring us the peace that will permeate our grief-coated hearts. And may the Spirit use this time and space to remind us that we are never alone in our difficult spaces. REPORT THIS AD With his friends, Jesus shared his last communion before death. The group recognized the sacred in their gathering and celebrated their friendship and their community of faith. One more time, Jesus took the bread and blessed it. In his breaking of the bread, Jesus yearned for them to remember his teachings and their times together. “Whenever you eat this bread, remember me.” One more time, after supper, Jesus took the cup and blessed it as well. In his grasping of the cup, Jesus yearned for his followers to recall their times together. “Whenever you drink of this cup, remember me.” As we join together for this meal, let us remember with gratitude our loved ones who once ate at this table and many other tables with us. While they no longer abide with us here today, help us to recognize that they are a part of the great cloud of witnesses, celebrating eternity with our Creator. May this meal be a gift to each of our souls today. Unison prayer of Thanksgiving We express our gratitude for this meal, Divine Host. We give thanks for the times we spent with our loved ones here at this table, and we thank you that this table is a reminder of our love for you, God. Accompany us into the world with peace in our hearts and strength in the days to come. Amen. By Rev. Michelle L. Torrigan Announcements Benediction 1 Community Time Benediction 2 BENEDICTION (based on Revelation 7: 12, 16-17) Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen! We go out to be God’s people. Go in strength to be the saints of God for you will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike you, nor any scorching heat. We go out to be God’s people. Live the way of God with confidence for God is your shepherd, and will guide you to the spring of life. We go out to be God’s people.