We are Being Tested By God

September 27, 2020 Exodus 17:1-7 Being Tested By God 17th Sunday after Pentecost Year A Opening Song Welcome Opening Prayer L: Come, let us worship God who provides for us. P: Even though we whine and complain, God hears our cries. L: Lift your voices in praise, for God has come to comfort you. P: Thanks be to God who forgives and heals our wounded souls. L: Come, celebrate God’s steadfast love. P: Open our hearts, O Lord, and let us truly listen to your words. AMEN. Stewardship Moment Offering Prayer (Exodus 17) God of abundance, you fill us with good things; you satisfy our thirst; you meet our every need. From your rock, our blessings flow. Accept what we give in return: our hearts, our hands, our gifts, our love. Use them to answer the cries of a world in need. Amen. Scripture Exodus 17:1-7 Water from a rock 17 The whole Israelite community broke camp and set out from the Sin desert to continue their journey, as the LORD commanded. They set up their camp at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 The people argued with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why are you arguing with me? Why are you testing the LORD?” 3 But the people were very thirsty for water there, and they complained to Moses, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst?” 4 So Moses cried out to the LORD, “What should I do with this people? They are getting ready to stone me.” 5 The LORD said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of Israel’s elders with you. Take in your hand the shepherd’s rod that you used to strike the Nile River, and go. 6 I’ll be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Hit the rock. Water will come out of it, and the people will be able to drink.” Moses did so while Israel’s elders watched. 7 He called the place Massah[a] and Meribah,[b] because the Israelites argued with and tested the LORD, asking, “Is the LORD really with us or not?” Sermon Being Tested By God The only thing that we can be sure of in life is change. Every generation experiences a big event that is so earth shattering that it transforms everything about life. Of course for us, we would all agree that the pandemic is the transforming event for us in this room. But I will say that the transformation is deeper than that, all of 2020 has been a transforming event and it is not over yet. We have no idea how this year will end. Things are happening so fast, we hardly have time to really process any of this. That must have been how the Isrealites must have felt when this strange man names Moses convinced them to leave the comforts of slavery in Egypt and go on an unknown journey into the desert. They had no map, no destination, no preparation, no idea of what to expect. All they could do was complain. And the complaining never ends. Moses probably started to ask them all – what kind of cheese do you want with your whine? Wandering in the wilderness We have all been there at some point in our lives. We have been at a time in our lives when we are just wandering in the wilderness – looking for where we will go next. We might be just finishing school looking for a career, just out of a relationship looking for what comes next, looking for a lifestyle change. We may be looking for a new job. There are any number of things that might put us in that place of wandering. The point is, some of us at some point find a sense of direction of where we are supposed to go, and some of us just keep on wandering Some of us get home and some of us keep wandering There is a saying that the king of England said a prayer to God on day – he prayed that God would give him a light so that he could see in the unknown. The priest replied, instead of praying for light, just pray for God – that is all that you need. That is the difference between those who make it to the promised land, and those who don’t. Some are still looking for the light, and some discover that God knows the way – not them. We have to go in the wilderness to find God Often times it is those wilderness experiences that teach us that we need God. It is those wilderness experiences that teach us of the ways of God. It is those wilderness experiences that put us face to face with a God. A God that had been with us all along, but for some reason we had not been paying attention to. It is in the wilderness that we start to exchange our fear for courage, and we have to strength to move on. Even when we get to the promised land we see that in reality, all of our lives are lived somewhere in between hardship and promise. No Matter how far we make it, there is something that we have to struggle with. Exodus 17 is the third murmuring story. They are complaining for food and water. In the first story God gives them a solution to the problem. In the second story God asks them to listen to his instructions. In this story God says that this is a test to see whether they will trust God to do what God says. In all three stories God provides for them. God continues to provide, and the people continue to complain This story does not end well for the people. Centuries later when they are excelled from their homeland, they reflect on what they could have done to make God so mad at them. God says that God never got ever their complaining here at Meribah. God could tolerate the complaining, but they never passed the test. They did not do what they were asked, and they did not rely on God for their provisions, they took matters in their own hands. Being exiled was the consequences for their actions. Speaking of consequences – in this story, the people blame Moses for all of their problems. If it wasn’t for him they would be safe and taken care of in Egypt, never mind the fact that they would have also been slaves. It was Moses fault. It is Moses that tells them that God never forgave them for not listening to God. The tension between the leader and the people. The end of Exodus says that Moses lived to an old age. But the bible says that his ending was mysterious. He went out into the desert one day and was never found again. People say that God came to him in the desert and told him that it was his time, and God took him. I am not a bible scholar, but I always assume that the people knew more than they are saying about Moses disappearance. They got tired of him telling them what to do. This story is much more than a story about the wilderness, whining, or blaming leaders. The main character of the story is God, the main point is that God provides, the main lesson is to look for God in the middle of life’s deserts. God provides for us without complaint. Moses was able to get them water by striking a rock with his walking stick. Moses leadership was no so much about coming up with answers to their problems, but in listening to God’s instruction. You can't get blood out of a turnip!" we've all heard (usually in response to a bill collector or a higher church budget). Or we've heard a variation, "You can't squeeze water out of a stone." We nod our heads in agreement with the speaker. After all, how can we argue with something so plain? The rational, analytical side of our brain says, "True, true, sad but true. You can't get water out of a rock." Oh, we of little faith. All we see is the rock. Every week when I need to come up with a sermon, I read the prescribed scripture passage(s) for that Sunday and scratch my head. "Come on," I say. "I need a sermon." Nothing comes out. I stare at the page and think, "This is like squeezing water out of a rock." What I see is the rock -- not the potential for water. I see the blank page, not the potential for a sermon. It's not until I trust God to reveal the sermon behind the page that it comes out. (Maybe not masterpieces, but I've never yet gotten into the pulpit Sunday morning and said, "Sorry, no word from God.") We're all like those Hebrews at times, aren't we? They're wandering in the wilderness, thirsting to death and grumbling about it. "Moses," they say, "we and our families and our animals are dying of thirst. Help." So Moses approaches God, and God tells him to go to a certain spot and to strike the rock with his staff, assuring him water will appear. Moses does as he is told and, wow, where before they'd seen only rock, water flows. Imagine the Hebrews' reaction. Cheering, clapping, whistling, people saying "Neat-o!" and "Cool!" But they probably believed the miracle was that water appeared where there had been no water. That's not the case. It's not that there was no water there. The water was there; it's just that they couldn't see it there, didn't have access to it, didn't know how to tap it. The true miracle wasn't water appearing where there was no water; the true miracle was they stopped seeing rock and finally saw water beneath. Richard Bach, in his terrific little paperback, Illusions: The Adventures Of A Reluctant Messiah, writes: "Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they're yours."1 We must stop arguing for limitations, stop arguing "You can't get water out of a rock." We must ask God to help us see the water, the potential in our lives and in all of life's situations. Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, there they are, limiting you. We can complain, we can blame, but we also need to look for God. God stayed mad at the Isrealites, no so much because they complained. But they also didn’t listen, follow instructions or trust. The only thing we can be sure of is that things will change. The exodus story is an invitation. An invitation for all of us to come out of what is holding us back. An invitation to enter into a new relationship with life. Our wilderness experience are the growing pains of entering a new life. Next week we will see how this new relationship formed a new community, a new promise that God will provide and that we need to listen and be loyal – the story of the 10 commandments – whole new promise on a whole new level. Proof that we passed the test and chose to stay in relationship with our circumstance and with God. The prayer of the filled cup Recently I learned of a special prayer that one woman does every day. When she wakes up in the morning who gets a bowl- and as she pours water in to she starts to pray for all of the things and all of the people in her life. As the bowl fills up she still pour the water. And she is reminded of God’s grace in her life. She remembers all of the needs that God supplies, all that she is grateful for. All that she has for her say. She realizes that her life is just as full as that bowl. And then she leaves the bowl on her kitchen sink for the rest of her day – to remind her of the fullness of God, and that her soul is full. Let us pray….. Prayer Pastoral Prayer Lord of hope and healing, you have heard the cries of our hearts. You know that we do want to serve you, and yet when things get tough, we buckle and cave in. We lack the courage and strength to work for you. You have reminded us that you will be continually with us and we need to place our trust in that fact. Your love will sustain and heal us. Your mercy and grace will give us courage and strength, joy and peace. As we have come before you this day, offering our prayers for those near and dear to us, let us remember that you constantly lift and carry us in your love. Bring us to the knowledge of your mercy and powerful love that will never leave us. Prepare us for ministry in areas of need and desolation. For we ask these things in Jesus’ Name. AMEN. Song for Reflection Come Thou Font of Every Blessing UMH 400 Announcements Next week is World Communion Sunday- We will be celebrating communion. You can pick up your prepackaged elements from the office. Or have a drink and some type of bread product. The scripture for next week is Exodus 20:1-20 The song is One Bread One Body UMH - 620 Benediction Children’s Sermon – will be given via Facebook Moses did exactly what God told him to do and guess what happened? He got water from a rock! Once again, God took good care of His people just like He takes good care of us today. So, what should you and I do when we face a seemingly impossible situation? We should ask God for His help, and then trust in Him. Sometimes we may not understand the way God is leading, but we just have to trust Him and have faith in His ways. After all, who would have thought you could get water from a rock? (You can read this whole story in Exodus 17:1-7 if you want.) Let’s pray together. Dear Father, when we face impossible situations, help us to remember that we serve a God who can rain down food from heaven and get water from a rock. Nothing is impossible for You. You love us and always take care of us. Thank You! Am

Grumbling People

September 20, 2020 16th Sunday After Pentecost Exodus 16: 1-30 Year A Grumbling People Opening Song Welcome Opening Prayer Lord, who lifts us up, reside in our hearts today. Help us to listen closely for your word to us. Remind us that you are always with us, throughout all of our lives. Give us confidence in your presence, so that we may go into your world ready to witness to your love through our works and our deeds, for we pray these things in Jesus’ name. AMEN. Stewardship Moment Invitation to the Offering (Philippians 1, Exodus 16, Matthew 20, Psalm 105) Whatever our struggles, whatever our miracles, whatever our burdens, whatever our fruitful labor, we are thankful for the blessings from God and from God's good creation. As signs of that gratitude, let us offer now our tithes and gifts. Offering Prayer (Psalm 105) God of abundance, receive these gifts with thanks from your people, we pray. May they and we help your love and grace flow like rivers in deserts of need. Amen. Scripture Wilderness food: manna and quail 16 The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Sin desert, which is located between Elim and Sinai. They set out on the fifteenth day of the second month[a] after they had left the land of Egypt. 2 The whole Israelite community complained against Moses and Aaron in the desert. 3 The Israelites said to them, “Oh, how we wish that the LORD had just put us to death while we were still in the land of Egypt. There we could sit by the pots cooking meat and eat our fill of bread. Instead, you’ve brought us out into this desert to starve this whole assembly to death.” 4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “I’m going to make bread rain down from the sky for you. The people will go out each day and gather just enough for that day. In this way, I’ll test them to see whether or not they follow my Instruction. 5 On the sixth day, when they measure out what they have collected, it will be twice as much as they collected on other days.” 6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “This evening you will know that it was the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt. 7 And in the morning you will see the LORD’s glorious presence, because your complaints against the LORD have been heard. Who are we? Why blame us?” 8 Moses continued, “The LORD will give you meat to eat in the evening and your fill of bread in the morning because the LORD heard the complaints you made against him. Who are we? Your complaints aren’t against us but against the LORD.” 9 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole Israelite community, ‘Come near to the LORD, because he’s heard your complaints.’” 10 As Aaron spoke to the whole Israelite community, they turned to look toward the desert, and just then the glorious presence of the LORD appeared in the cloud. 11 The LORD spoke to Moses, 12 “I’ve heard the complaints of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat. And in the morning you will have your fill of bread. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.’” 13 In the evening a flock of quail flew down and covered the camp. And in the morning there was a layer of dew all around the camp. 14 When the layer of dew lifted, there on the desert surface were thin flakes, as thin as frost on the ground. 15 When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What[b] is it?” They didn’t know what it was. Moses said to them, “This is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat. 16 This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Collect as much of it as each of you can eat, one omer[c] per person. You may collect for the number of people in your household.’” 17 The Israelites did as Moses said, some collecting more, some less. 18 But when they measured it out by the omer, the ones who had collected more had nothing left over, and the ones who had collected less had no shortage. Everyone collected just as much as they could eat. 19 Moses said to them, “Don’t keep any of it until morning.” 20 But they didn’t listen to Moses. Some kept part of it until morning, but it became infested with worms and stank. Moses got angry with them. 21 Every morning they gathered it, as much as each person could eat. But when the sun grew hot, it melted away. 22 On the sixth day the people collected twice as much food as usual, two omers per person. All the chiefs of the community came and told Moses. 23 He said to them, “This is what the LORD has said, ‘Tomorrow is a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. But you can set aside and keep all the leftovers until the next morning.’” 24 So they set the leftovers aside until morning, as Moses had commanded. They didn’t stink or become infested with worms. 25 The next day Moses said, “Eat it today, because today is a Sabbath to the LORD. Today you won’t find it out in the field. 26 Six days you will gather it. But on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be nothing to gather.” 27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather bread, but they found nothing. 28 The LORD said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to obey my commandments and instructions? 29 Look! The LORD has given you the Sabbath. Therefore, on the sixth day he gives you enough food for two days. Each of you should stay where you are and not leave your place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day. Sermon Murmuring, whining, complaining, lamenting, grumbling, expressing resentment. Whatever you want to call it, it seems to be the favorite pastime of God’s people. There is always something to complain about in the church. Much of the new testament is dedicated to telling us how not to be complainers. But we do it anyway. It reminds me of the story of a lady who was a veritable fount of complaints. Her pastor came by to see her one day and she began to enumerate some of her complaints: “The neighbor’s children are so noisy . . . People at the church never come to see me . . . my arthritis is getting worse . . . the weather has been so terrible . . .” On and on she went with one complaint after the other. Finally, she said, “But do you know, Pastor, I have had the worst headache all week, but suddenly while talking with you, it’s gone.” The pastor sighed and said, “Oh, no. Your headache didn’t disappear. I have it now.” But before you think that I am making a statement about a possible issue in our church, I want to say upfront that this sermon is about a scripture in Exodus. That is the them of the scripture. I am just unpacking the scripture. We are talking about the people of Israel. That is what Israel means – one who wrestles with God. One who has a God given right to complain to God and to expect an answer. God says in this scripture passage, as he has said many time before. I have heard the complaints of my people and I am compelled to give them an answer. I may not be the answer that they are looking for – but it is an answer. So there is nothing wrong with complaining. It is a part of our condition –it is who we are and it is what we do. Deborah Block: People complain - God Hears - God Responds-People Respond • How are we responding to God’s gift? The major theme of the entire old testament – is remember who you are and remember who God is. Look at your life, your story and see that God has provided in so many different ways – each and every time that you needed God. Our scripture for today is literally a story about a grumbling in the tummies of the Isrealites, but there was also a grumbling in their spirits. This story has a lot of symbolism behind the actions of the story. This is the most famous story in the world. The Israelites have been called out of Egypt into the wilderness. They are looking for a peaceful place to worship God. Just three months ago they are celebrating the parting of the Red Sea and their triumph over the Egytpians. But now this trip is getting a little old. They don’t know where they are going, they don’t know how to survive. They are acting like any young child who will continually ask are we there yet, I am hungry, I have to go to the bathroom, I am tired. With uncertainty come grumbling. Exodus can also be called the book of grumbling. They complain at the stop before this that the water is bitter. In the story after this they complain that they will die of thirst. Today they are hungry and have nothing to eat. There are no fast food restaurants along the way, so they don’t know how they are going to eat. God provides quail and manna for them. Perhaps you are familiar with the cartoon Kudzu. It's a cartoon about a preacher by the name of Rev. Will B. Dunn, who looks rather goofy, wears a wide-brim black hat, but who tries hard to provide ministry to people who are silly and self-serving. In one of the Kudzu cartoons Rev. Will B. Dunn is shown reading from the pulpit Bible the Lord's Prayer: "Give us this day our daily ... low-fat, low-cholesterol, salt-free bread. I have to give God credit. God not only provides, God provides a nutritious well balanced meal – a protein source and some type of bread. It is enough to sustain them. What is interesting is that if you think back to the story of them leaving Egypt – what did they bring with them? Livestock and supplies. They could not have been that hungry if they refused to kill their livestock. I am sure that they ate all of the unleavened bread they bought with them, but they did not kill their livestock because their animals would have been so much of a investment in their future, they would not have like to seem them killed for anyreason. Their livestock would not have mattered, because this is a story about how God provides. Quail would have been migrating at the same time they were traveling, God provided enough quail for them every night. God also gave them white stuff on the ground every morning. Manna literally means what is it? Bread and meat every day. What more can you ask for? But this bread and meat also represent spiritual food. Meat, sustenance, the main point, the meat of the matter? What is the meat of our faith? The meat is that God provides so we need to trust God. And bread – is symbolic for teachings that feed our soul. Jesus says that it is the bread that fulfills our souls. My first appointment – Emmanual United Methodist Church in North Chicago. The lay leader and I used to visit the shut ins every month. It was always a joy to visit these people and to get to know each of them and their stories. Fay was blind and hard of hearing, so it was always an interesting visit. She couldn’t see me, so it took her a few months to realize why I was visiting her every month. When she knew that the pastor was there, she would break out into the song Bread of Heaven. We would sing it together before giving her communion. That is just one of many songs about God providing our daily bread. Another, new mercies I see day by day. In the Lord’s prayer we even say – Give us this day our daily bread. Jesus tells us to pray only for the day – don’t worry so much about tomorrow, there is enough evil in the one day to deal with. Learning to expect our daily bread is the most important point in this story. That is a hard lesson in this day and age. We want to plan ahead, we want to know the answers now, we want to know how the story ends. In the modern world we are not willing to base our lives on an uncertainty. In the book In search of Stones, Scott Peck says that we love adventure – but if you know ahead of time how you will get there, what to expect, and how you will get there – it is not really an adventure. Faith is looking at your life and realizing how God was present for you each step of the way. If we know the story ahead of time it is not faith. A seminary professor in India noticed the interesting contrast the Indians have between grace and faith. They point to the cat and the monkey. The cat holds and carries its kittens with no assistance required from the kittens. It is pure grace. The little monkey has to hold onto its mother and this illustrates faith. Yet even the monkey is carried by its mother which brings us back to grace. The people of God live in both grace and faith. We have to look for God’s grace in every day, every moment. This poem says it well: I met God in the morning When my day was at its best And His Presence came like sunrise Like a glory in my breast. All day long His Presence lingered, All day long He stayed with me; And we sailed in perfect calmness, Over many a troubled sea. Other ships were sorely battered, Other ships were sore distressed; But the winds that seemed to drive them Brought to me a peace and rest. So I think I know the secret, Learned from many a troubled way You must seek Him in the morning If you would have Him in the day. Next week will continue the story of the grumbling. But as I said this story has a spiritual element also. God gives specific instructions on how to properly use these daily provisions. Don’t store them up, take only what you can eat in a day don’t get greedy. Take you need, not what you greed. Those who get greedy and don’t follow instructions die. In one episode of Little House On The Prairie, farming hasn't worked out, so Pa Ingalls moves the family to a new state. Gold has been discovered there, so Pa decides it's worth a try. They stop in town for provisions and meet a minister who befriends them. A conversation about Sunday school ensues. When the wagon is loaded, Pa Ingalls says (with that winning Michael Landon smile), "S'long, Reverend. Maybe you could say a prayer we find gold." To which the wise and kindly minister says, "I can't ask God to help you locate gold, Mr. Ingalls, but I will pray for you and your family's happiness and welfare." Pa Ingalls looks lovingly at Ma Ingalls, and you can see that the minister's words have at least momentarily gotten them back on track, helped them reorder their priorities. Pa says (again with that winning Michael Landon smile), "That'd be fine, Reverend. That'd be just fine." Off they drive. We who watch Little House On The Prairie find ourselves resonating to that. We sense the danger, and we somehow know the value being lifted up in that scene: God helps meet our needs, not our greeds Our prayer is give us this day, our daily bread. Let us pray….. Prayer Lord, your blessings abound in our lives and we lift our voices in gratitude for these lovely gifts from you. We also lift our voices as our hearts cry out our concerns for those who are ill, who mourn, who feel lost. We offer to your both our joys and concerns, so often intermingled in our lives. Be with each of us and for those whom we name with our voices and in our hearts. Dear friends, let us take a moment to share our joys and our concerns. [Sharing of joys and concerns; then a brief period of silence.] Lord, you have heard our cries and our shouts of joy. Make your presence known to us again through the love and forgiveness of others as we have loved and forgiven them. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN. Song for Reflection And Are We Yet Alive UMH 553 Announcements The health team will be meeting today – welcome to join in the conversation We will be meeting inside starting next week in fellowship hall. The health team is monitoring the situations, and wanted to start out with caution to have a safe inside experience. The restrictions have been lifted in Will County – so we will have seats for 50 people. The scripture for next week will be Exodus 17:1-7, the song for reflection is Come Thou Font of Every Blessing UMH 400 Benedictions Sending Now go to be with those forgotten by the world. We will share God's constant love with everyone. Now go to be generous with those around you as well as those far away. We will share Jesus' justice and hope with all who need it. Now go to live as faithful people. We will join the Spirit in standing side by side with those who are lonely and afraid. Children’s Sermon Object: Perhaps a menu or a loaf of bread. (I broke the "rules" on this one and didn't use a visual aid!) Lesson: Trust; greed. Text: "The LORD spoke to Moses and said, 'I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, "At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the LORD your God." ' " "This is what the LORD has commanded: 'Gather as much of it as each of you needs.' " "And Moses said to them, 'Let no one leave any of it over until morning.' But they did not listen to Moses; some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and became foul. And Moses was angry with them." "What are some of the things we need to help our bodies grow?" "Milk," one of the shyer boys softly announces from his seat at the edge of the gathered children. "Vegetables!" a little girl says with an air of authority. The other children grimace at the thought. "Sunshine!" says another, obviously beaming with joy that she came up with something important. "Yes, we need all of those things, and more. Do all of you like to eat?" Most of the children nod affirmation, though some are obviously at an age still indifferent to food. "Do any of you ever go out to eat?" All the children nod yes this time. "When I was a child, my parents took me out to eat once in a while. Quite often, especially if we went to a cafeteria, they would warn me, 'Be careful! Your eyes are bigger than your stomach.' Have any of you ever had anyone tell you that?" This time only two hands go up. "A couple of you have. 'Your eyes are bigger than your stomach!' That expression just didn't make any sense to me when I was your age. I had seen drawings of the stomach on posters at my doctor's office. I knew it had to be at least as big as my fist. Both of my eyes put together weren't that big. 'What in the world could my parents mean?' I wondered. But as I got older and continued to hear it, I learned that my eyes could see more than my stomach could hold. My parents wanted me to be careful not to take more food than I could eat. Finally I understood what it meant to have eyes bigger than my stomach. "In a few minutes our Liturgist is going to read a story about the Israelites wandering in the wilderness. They got pretty hungry and were upset with Moses for leading them to a place with so little food. So Moses asked God what to do. God said, 'I'll feed them, but they must gather only as much food as they need for one day and not leave any of it for the next day.' "That was hard for some of the Israelites to do. They had been very hungry. When God provided food, some of them gathered up more than they needed and tried to save it. But the extra food spoiled by the second day and they couldn't eat it. If they had obeyed God and only gathered enough for one day, they wouldn't have wasted the extra food they had taken. "Sometimes it's hard not to take more than we need, isn't it? Sometimes it's hard to trust that something will be there tomorrow if we don't take it today. But that's what God asked the Israelites to do. "Sometimes we're so hungry when we sit down to supper or go out to eat that it's extra hard not to take more than we need; it's hard not to have eyes bigger than our stomachs. Yet when we do, the food that is left over sometimes gets thrown away or sits in the refrigerator too long and spoils. That's rather sad when there are people all over the world who don't have enough to eat. In fact, there are people right here in Jefferson City who don't have enough to eat. That's why the church has a food closet, isn't it? "Well, in about an hour many of you will be sitting down to your Sunday dinner. When you do, you might think about what we've talked about this morning and try to take only what you need. In fact, whenever you eat, you might think about not having eyes too big for your stomach, and having faith that you can have more another time. You might think about how God asked the Israelites to have faith, to trust God. You know, God needs your trust too." CSS Publishing Company, Inc, Cows In Church, by B. Kathleen Fannin Additional Illustrations In one episode of Little House On The Prairie, farming hasn't worked out, so Pa Ingalls moves the family to a new state. Gold has been discovered there, so Pa decides it's worth a try. They stop in town for provisions and meet a minister who befriends them. A conversation about Sunday school ensues. When the wagon is loaded, Pa Ingalls says (with that winning Michael Landon smile), "S'long, Reverend. Maybe you could say a prayer we find gold." To which the wise and kindly minister says, "I can't ask God to help you locate gold, Mr. Ingalls, but I will pray for you and your family's happiness and welfare." Pa Ingalls looks lovingly at Ma Ingalls, and you can see that the minister's words have at least momentarily gotten them back on track, helped them reorder their priorities. Pa says (again with that winning Michael Landon smile), "That'd be fine, Reverend. That'd be just fine." Off they drive. We who watch Little House On The Prairie find ourselves resonating to that. We sense the danger, and we somehow know the value being lifted up in that scene: God helps meet our needs, not our greeds. The Israelites who wandered in the wilderness may have known perfectly well about the natural source of the manna. But whether they did or did not, they recognized that God had provided for them. It was not merely a natural phenomena; it was recognized as God's act of grace. It is like the story of a man who entered a monastic order. When he sat down to his first meal, the bread was served and he found it was delicious. The man turned to one of the monks and asked, "Did we make this bread or was it given to us?" And the monk replied, "Yes!" Well, which is it? And the answer is this: Life is both given to us and created by us.2 Perhaps you are familiar with the cartoon Kudzu. It's a cartoon about a preacher by the name of Rev. Will B. Dunn, who looks rather goofy, wears a wide-brim black hat, but who tries hard to provide ministry to people who are silly and self-serving. In one of the Kudzu cartoons Rev. Will B. Dunn is shown reading from the pulpit Bible the Lord's Prayer: "Give us this day our daily ... low-fat, low-cholesterol, salt-free bread." The last frame has Rev. Dunn saying to himself, "I hate these modern translations."3 You see, Rev. Will B. Dunn knows that the Lord's Prayer is a prayer for daily bread and the physical ability to acquire it. But he also knows this prayer is more than about bread itself. To ask God to give us this day our daily bread is to ask not only for physical food, but also spiritual food. Yes, in the Lord's Prayer we are asking for bread we can slice and make into sandwiches, but in that prayer we are also asking for the bread of life: Jesus Christ. Dr. Clarence E. McCartney once asked, "Where is happiness?" It's not in unbelief; Voltaire was an unbeliever of the most pronounced type, and he wrote: "I wish I had never been born." Nor does money guarantee happiness Jay Gould, the American millionaire, had plenty of that. But when he was dying, he said, "I suppose I am the most miserable man on earth." Happiness is not found in position and fame. Lord Beaconsfield enjoyed more than his share of both. But he wrote, "Youth is a mistake; manhood a struggle; old age a regret." Happiness is not in military glory, either. Alexander the Great conquered the known world in his day. Having done so, he wept in his tent because, he said, "There are no more worlds to conquer." Where, then, is happiness found? The answer is simple: "In Christ alone." "At thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore." Let me make a suggestion to you as you leave church today. As you break bread at lunch, think of it as the manna that the children of Israel received from God. Thank God for giving you enough to eat. Don't worry about what you will or will not have tomorrow. Just thank God for today. Let the bread speak to you of the depth of God's love for each of us in providing both the bread and the gift of life to enjoy it. A man goes to a diner every day and he orders lunch. Afterward the manager asks him how he liked his meal. The old man replies, “It was good, but you could give me a little more bread.” So, the next day the manager tells the waitress to give the man two slices of bread this time. Afterward he asks, “How was your meal today?” “It was good,” the man replies, “but you could give me a little more bread.” So the next day the manager tells the waitress to give the man four slices of bread. “How was your meal today?” the manager asks. “It was good,” he replies, “but you could give me a little more bread.” So, the next day the manager tells the waitress to give the man a whole loaf of bread neatly sliced with his meal. Again, the manager asks, “How was your meal today?” One more time the man answered, “It was good, but you could give me just a little more bread.” The manager is now obsessed with satisfying this customer. He orders the staff to bake a four-foot-long loaf of bread. Then the next day, when the man comes in, the manager has the server place that enormous loaf of bread right next to the man’s plate. The man sits down, devours his meal, including all of the bread. Then the manager asks in his usual way: “How was your meal today, sir.” The man replies: “It was good as usual, but I see you are back to giving only one slice of bread!” I have a feeling that nothing the manager could have done would have satisfied this customer. Dr. Karl Menninger’s famous prescription to a lady who was depressed was that she go out and find someone who needed her and help that person. That is also the best prescription for chronic complainers. Complainers are invariably centered on themselves—not upon God and His goodness, not upon their neighbors and their needs—but upon themselves. The Hebrews knew themselves to be a chosen people. The Exodus experience confirmed that. They were God’s own people—a holy race. What they sometimes forgot was that they were chosen for a purpose—to be a witness for God to the nations. Have you ever known anyone who truly, unreservedly gave his or her life for others who was a complainer, a grumbler, a murmurer? Dr. Tom Dooley once wrote: “Dedicate some of your life to others. Your dedication will not be a sacrifice. It will be an exhilarating experience because it is intense effort applied toward a meaningful end.” A seminary professor in India noticed the interesting contrast the Indians have between grace and faith. They point to the cat and the monkey. The cat holds and carries its kittens with no assistance required from the kittens. It is pure grace. The little monkey has to hold onto its mother and this illustrates faith. Yet even the monkey is carried by its mother which brings us back to grace. David Allen Sorensen, in Exploring The Yearly Lectionary, tells how difficult it is to accept pure grace. Just for fun, he decided to try a little experiment at a toll booth in Indiana. He rolled up to the booth just ahead of a fellow he had never seen before and handed the teller a dollar and said, "This is for me and that red Chevy behind me." Then David drove off. Watching in his mirror, he saw the guy in the car behind motion emphatically with his hands as he took far longer at the booth than other cars. Then the motorist punched the accelerator hard and caught up with David, snapped his head to the right, and glared -- with anger! Some people receive God's grace like that, too. They don't trust God. They question the reality of pure grace. Most of us want to do it ourselves. An oft-told story comes to mind about a pillar of the church who died and went directly to the pearly gates. Saint Peter met him and said, "It takes 1,000 points to get in, so tell me about yourself." The pillar confidently reported, "well, until I was 21 years old, I never missed Sunday school, unless I was sick in bed. I have a string of perfect attendance medals that almost reaches the floor. I was an acolyte, active in the youth group, and I often worked around the church, cutting grass and doing other odd jobs." Saint Peter said, "That is extremely good. Congratulations. That gives you one point. Tell me more." The pillar said, "I am 75 years old. I attended church regularly, served on the board many times, sang in the choir, and gave ten percent of my income to the Lord." "My, that is truly remarkable, another point for you," said Saint Peter. "Tell me more." The man, growing a bit concerned, said, "I tried to live the Christian life, obeyed the Ten Commandments, and welcomed strangers." Saint Peter said, "That is wonderful and that is another point. Go on." By this time the man was becoming desperate and a bit irritated, and he blurted out to Saint Peter, "Look, at this rate the only way I'll ever get into heaven is by the grace of God!" At that, Saint Peter lit up and exclaimed, "That is worth 1,000 points. Come on in!" Saved by grace. Nourished by grace. Manna -- gift of God, the bread of life sent down from heaven. Thanks be to God. The story begins with the people grumbling…not only their stomachs, but their souls as well. So they form a "Back to Egypt Committee" whose mantra is "Why'd you bring us out here…everything was so much better back in Egypt." I guess just about every time the people of God begin to journey into an unknown future, they have to deal with the "Back to Egypt Committee," a desire for the good old days. Well, God heard their grumblings and, lo and behold, God provided—quail for protein and a generous serving of "What-is-it?" The word manna actually means, "What is it?" Every morning they would find this white, flaky stuff on the ground, look around and say, "What is it?" "Well, I don't know what it is, but it's all we've got." So they ate the "what is it" and it sustained them for one more day. Miracle MRE's, falling autumn leaves, overnight morels and mushrooms? Who knows? But there it was, every morning, manna for the journey, daily bread. It wasn't much, but it was enough.... There is an old story about a man who came to a Jewish Rabbi with a personal problem. The Rabbi’s advice was, “Don’t worry, just pray to God.” The man said, “But I don’t know how to pray.” The Rabbi was quiet for a moment and then said, “Then you do have a great deal to worry about.” If we can’t pray - if we don’t pray, we have a great deal to worry about. For it is only as we pray, only as we daily appropriate the presence of God in our lives that our Christian faith becomes the sustaining manna which is fresh every morning. This poem says it well: I met God in the morning When my day was at its best And His Presence came like sunrise Like a glory in my breast. All day long His Presence lingered, All day long He stayed with me; And we sailed in perfect calmness, Over many a troubled sea. Other ships were sorely battered, Other ships were sore distressed; But the winds that seemed to drive them Brought to me a peace and rest. So I think I know the secret, Learned from many a troubled way You must seek Him in the morning If you would have Him in the day.

Time to Remember

September 13, 2020 Romans 14:1-12 Does God Take Sides? 15th Sunday After Pentecost Year A repreach of 9//11/11 Prelude Welcome Opening Prayer Opening Prayer (Romans 12) In this moment, gracious God, you have called us away from the world to a place and a time where we can commune with you and with one another. Hallow this communion, we pray. Calm our anxious spirits, that we may be set apart to hear your word of truth through which we receive grace to bring about the obedience of faith. Open us to the reality of your all-embracing love, both in this place and in the wider world. May we, by our words and actions, be bearers of your kingdom, in the name and Spirit of the Christ. Amen. Stewardship Moment Offering In gratitude for all the abundant blessings you have showered upon us, we celebrate as we receive our morning offering. We have a variety of intentions for offering these gifts to you, Loving God, but whatever the reason, whatever might be our purpose, we trust you will use them to bring healing to brokenness, hope to despair, and welcome to the forgotten. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. AMEN. Prayer of Dedication Lord, you have blessed our lives in so many ways. In gratitude for all these blessings and in confidence that our gifts will be used for ministries of peace and hope, we offer these gifts. AMEN. Scripture The Weak and the Strong 14 Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. 2 One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3 The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. 4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand. 5 One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. 6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. 10 You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister[a]? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11 It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’”[b] 12 So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. Sermon The importance of September 11th
Today is September 11th. We all know that ten years ago a plane destroyed the twin towers, and drove into the pentagon. We all know that was a pretty traumatic day for our nation. September 11, 2011 is also a day of trepidation as we have been told that the threat for today is just as real. We live in fear that it could happen again. And we don’t know what to do about it.

There are those days when we remember and will never forget
When we think about that day – most of us can remember where we were, what we were doing. I was on the train from Aurora to Chicago, I had a special meeting to attend downtown Chicago. A cell phone above me rang, and the lady above me was told that a plane had just driven into the twin towers. By the time we got to the meeting, everyone was so worried that we watched television as we met. We watched in horror. We told that the building had to be evacuated, and I caught the train back home. There have been several events in my life where a particular day will be etched in my mind forever. I was not yet three years old – but I remember the day Robert Kennedy was killed. I wasn’t born, but many have recounted the day MLK was killed or John Kennedy was killed
Those were moments when life as we know it changed forever, and we realized that there was no way that we could return.
Every year we are asked where we were on 9/11. Someone yesterday asked do you remember what you were doing on 9/10 – and I don’t. I didn’t need to. But when our lives change – things stick with us.

The Isrealites 9/11
Exodus tells of that day for the Israelites when life as they knew it would change. God had found favor on their condition. God sent them out. They crossed the red sea as Moses parted the sea for them. They all passed through. The angel passed before them and behind them and the spirit of God was with them. Scripture says that the Egyptians came after them, and the water passed over and they were destroyed. Once they made it over, they looked back and all they could see were dead Egyptians.

Midrash story
There is another midrash story which says that says that after the event, the angels noticed that God was sitting on the side crying. The angels asked why god was crying since god’s children have been saved. God said that he was mourning the loss of his children. The Israelites were his children, but so were the Egyptians. And now they lay dead.

Life changing moments usually a day of life and death
Death is usually a part of those life changing moments. In this story it was the death of the Egyptians, on 911 it was the 2000 or more people who perished that day, or it could be the death of an important or inspirational person. That day could also include the death of the past, the death of a dream, the death or all that you have been working for, the death of innocence, the death of normalcy in life.

Whatever that day may be – that day is a day when we look back and see death, and we look ahead and see a life that we don’t understand. It is a say when we see what has been taken away from us, but we don’t see what we have been given. We see that the life that we embraced doesn’t work anymore. But we don’t know what to do to go on. Until god comes along and tells us that there is no way to go back, we can only go forward. The question is not why life changes, but how it changes. What are we supposed to do now in order to go forward?
The motto for 911 is - we will never forget. Never forgot the moment that changed our lives. Never forget the people, who we lost,
This is a moment for our nation to questions the values that hold us together as a community, to look at who are our enemies, who are our friends. Who can we trust and who can’t we trust, who do we blame for all of our pain.
10 years later there still a lot of pain, a lot of woundedness, a lot of consequences, a lot of unaswered questions.
In teaching a class on forgiveness, there was a story of three mothers who lost sons who were fireman. 10 years later they are still in pain, because the bodies of their sons were never found. Until their sons are buried and laid to rest, there is no closure, no chance to heal and to move on. They cannot forget. But if you can’t forget, how can you ever forgive? If you can’t let go, how do you get to move on. Only God can answer that.


Christian community is an example for the world
“There will be no peace among the peoples of this world without peace among world religions. There will be no peace among the world religions without peace among the Christian churches. The community of the Church is an integral part of the world community” Hans Küng.

We are called to be an example to the rest of the world of what is possible when you forgive and vow to live in community. We will have our differences, but how we solve them is to be an example for others.

Just as God cares just as much as the Egyptians as he cares for the Israelites. He cares for the world, and how we treat one another. What we do to one another. Christian community is chosen to be an example for the world. Not because we are better than others, but because we have been appointed for a special purpose – to do the work of Jesus. Jesus was a peacemaker, a way maker.

We did not focus on the gospel, but peter asks Jesus about the magic number of forgiveness. How many times should forgive a person, seven times? Seventy seven times, and more if it requires it. We are a forgiven people, so we need to be forgiving people.


Forgiveness and nonjudgment



Along with unforgiveness, comes judgment. We label that person, and no matter what they do, we attach that label to them. If they crossed us, they will cross us again. If we are a follower of God and we have been wronged, then that person must not be a friend of God. The gospel of a story of grace and mercy, not a story of judgment and criticism.

The two million dollar mistake
John D. Rockefeller built the great Standard Oil empire. Not surprisingly, Rockefeller was a man who demanded high performance from his executives. One day, one of those executives made a two million dollar mistake. Word of the man’s enormous error quickly spread throughout the executive offices, and the other men began to make themselves scarce, not wanting to cross his path. One man didn’t have any choice, however, since he had an appointment with the boss. So he straightened his shoulders and walked into Rockefeller’s office. As he approached Rockefeller’s desk, he looked up from the piece of paper on which he was writing. “I guess you’ve heard about the two million dollar mistake our friend made,” he said abruptly. “Yes,” the executive said, expecting Rockefeller to explode. “Well, I’ve been sitting here listing all of our friend’s good qualities, and I’ve discovered that in the past he has made us many more times the amount he lost for us today by his one mistake. His good points far outweigh this one human error. So I think we ought to forgive him, don’t you?”



We are asked to do the same that God does for us
God does the same for us everyday. God takes into account or value, not or sin. God expects us to do the same for others.

Romans says that we do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, if we die, we die to the Lord. Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.

God is the judge of my actions, not you. And everything that I do is to please God, not to please you. We all have to stand before God, so it is not our job to judge their character. It is or job to learn to live in community.


When we live in a world of us and them – it is real easy to point to finger at them. Romans says that we are all different, we understand or faith differently. What may be okay with you may not be okay with me. And yet we are not only Christian, we are a part of the same church. How do we manage our differences, how do we disagree without losing community? By learning to forgive, and not to pass judgment. If we master that, we can change the world.


We all stuck on Egypt
The truth is we all, faithful or not – we are all stuck in Egypt, looking for freedom. We are all holding onto something. There is something holding us back to being the person God wants us to be. There is something that we need to be delivered from.
We all live in a 9/11 world – where we have wounds that need to heal, unfinished monuments that we promised to build, things that we will never forget, and will drive our actions and opinions.


Live in 9/12 not 9/11
And the day has come and it will come again, when God will intervene in our lives, in a way that we can’t deny. When whatever happened yesterday is wiped away. And all there is for us to do is to take account of or lives and move on. 9/11 affects us all in some way. But let’s not stay stuck on what we were doing on 9/11. The real question for followers of Christ is what did we do on 9/12. If I remember correctly, that is the day that we got up and needed to pray. We needed to come together in community, we needed to volunteer to help make a difference, we needed to make plans for how to support others, and how to understand those who we have ignored, how to stand together in community. We can remember 9/11 – but we need to live for 9/12 and beyond. I want us to say a litany – a community prayer for God’s healing and hopes in our lives and in the lives of others.

Litany
Leader: When memories of terror reawaken the past, and experiences of death, loss, and grief, then ...
People: In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
Leader: When anger and inflamed passion tempt us to respond with violence and seek revenge, then ...
People: In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
Leader: When we are enticed to give in to the illusion that war alone will resolve conflict between enemies, then ...
People: In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
Leader: When it feels like every menace, whether imagined or real, is a threat to our security, and fills us with fear, then ...
People: In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
Leader: When religion is used as an excuse to exclude, threaten, or destroy others, forgetting or ignoring all that unites us, then ...
People: In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
Leader: When we become stuck in the past, unable to respond to the challenges we face with vision and hope, then ...
People: In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
Leader: When we wrestle with how to create a better future for our children, even to the seventh generation, then ...
People: In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
Leader: When we struggle to find a new and peaceful way to live in the world, and forget that you, O God, are our help and salvation, then ...
People: In your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world.
All: O God of all peoples, nations and creeds: you have created us and rejoiced in the goodness of creation, and have wept with us when have experienced death, loss and grief.
Send your healing presence into the world and endow all people, leaders, groups and nations with your vision of unity and peace; so that we and all people may move on from the wounds of the past and seek to live in harmony with one another; to the end that the goodness of your creation may be restored, enhanced and sustained for the common good of all.
Through mercies of your love and grace, and in your sure hope, O God, bring healing to the world. Amen! Prayer Loving and merciful God, we come before you this day, fresh from a week in which we have been challenged. Some of the challenges have caused us worry and strife; other challenges bring to us clear directions for our lives. In all of this, you are with us bringing healing and peace for our lives. We offer to you names of those who are ill, who mourn, who feel lost and alienated, wondering if anyone cares about them. [Congregation may offer name of someone in the above categories for prayer]. Hear our prayers, O Lord. Bring your healing mercies to all these people we have named with our hearts and our voices. We also bring to you, loving God, names and situations of great joy and celebration, for you have been in our midst during these times as well as during the difficult times. [Congregation may offer name of someone in the above categories for prayer]. Hear our praises, O God. Bring your loving presence to all these people we have named with our hearts and our voices. For it is in confidence of your abiding love and mercy that we offer this prayer. AMEN. Time of Reflection Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah UMH 127 Announcements Benediction Sending In every person, God is with us. We will welcome God in the family we know all too well, and in the strangers we will meet in the coming days. In every choice, Jesus is with us. We will welcome the Christ who serves us unexpectedly, and in those who will offer us forgiveness. In every moment, the Spirit is with us. We will welcome the Spirit who calls us to live as well as calling us to give of ourselves without question. Closing Song Children’s Sermon On The Winning Team Romans 14:1--15:13 Object: A football jersey Good morning, boys and girls. Look what I have with me today. (Hold up football jersey.) Which school is this from? (Let them answer.) Would one of you like to wear this today? (Choose a youngster to wear the jersey.) How many of you would like to belong to a team someday? (Let them answer.) Would some of you like to be cheerleaders for a team? (Let them answer.) When you are in school, it can be a lot of fun to go and root for your school team. Everyone gets very excited. The band plays the school song and it marches around the field. Sometimes it's raining or snowing and everyone gets wet and muddy, but still the game goes on, doesn't it, boys and girls? What do you do when your team scores a touchdown? (Let them answer.) That's right. You cheer a lot, so that the team will know you are there; you want the team to get excited, too, and score again. What do you do when your team loses, boys and girls? (Let them answer.) Yes, you probably feel pretty bad. But you wouldn't "boo" your own team for losing, would you? (Let them answer.) No -- you might "boo" the other team, but you certainly wouldn't "boo" your own. Your team probably tried very hard to win but the other team was just a little better. Win or lose, your team is still your team, isn't it, boys and girls? (Let them respond.) You wouldn't throw the whole team out just because it lost a game, would you? (Let them respond.) No, you wouldn't. Paul tells us that God treats us a little bit like we treat our football team -- only God treats us even better! God wants us to know that we belong to him whether we win or lose, live or die. We are God's. He is the one person who is always on our side. So this fall when we watch a football game or see someone wearing a jersey like this one, let's remember that we belong to an even greater team. We belong to God's people, the church. Will you remember that, boys and girls? Good! God bless you. Amen. CSS Publishing Company, WE ARE THE CHURCH, by Wesley T. Runk Additional Illustrations God Stopped Keeping Score For Toyohiko Kagawa it was the slums of Tokyo. For Dom Helder Camera, it’s the slums of Brazil. For Mother Theresa it was the slums of Calcutta. For Jesus Christ it was all humanity mired down in the slum of its own sin on Calvary. As they taunted him and crucified him, I’m sure the disciples and others wondered why Jesus didn’t retaliate. Whatever happened to good old divine retribution? Instead he hung there and took it. Why? Because long ago he figured out that God had stopped keeping score. If God has stopped keeping score on us, why are we still keeping score on those around us? Father, forgive us, for we know not what we do. William Carl III, Church People Beware!, CSS Publishing Company. Passing judgement on others is still a problem in the church, isn't it? Walter A. Clot, a pastor in Bluefield, VA, tells about a man who confronted him after church one day. "Preacher," the man said, "I have two complaints about you." "What are they?" the pastor asked. "First," said the man, "when I was chairman of the properties committee, you tried to tell me how to do the job. You should just let the church leaders do their job the way they want." "What is the second complaint?" asked pastor Clot. "Well," said the man, "I don't like the hymns that the song leader picks out. I wish you would tell him to pick more of the old ones." Obviously the man was not aware of the mixed message. He wanted the pastor to refrain from telling lay people how to do their jobs, but he wanted the pastor to tell the song leader which songs to sing. People are amazing. Jerry Simmons, a pastor in Houston, TX, tells of attending an afternoon college football game with his family. Afterward, they stopped at a McDonalds nearby to get a bite before the long trip home. When backing out of parking space, another car hit them from the front. There was very little damage, and after exchanging information with the other driver, they started the four-hour trip home. After an hour or so, it got dark, so Simmons turned on the car lights. But there were no lights except on high beam. This was the day of the two-lane highway, and this one was particularly winding and narrow. But they had to get home. So, Pastor Simmons drove home with his bright lights on. The reaction of other drivers as they approached him from the opposite direction was interesting. Some would simply honk their horns. Others would switch on their bright lights and leave them on. Some even swerved into his lane and made vulgar signs at him. He had no way of communicating that he couldn't help his condition. His lights were stuck on bright. He wanted to scream out of the window, "I can't help it!" God spoke to his spirit, says Pastor Simmons, and said that there are many in the church, just like his car, with their lights stuck on bright. They are loud and glaring, and obnoxious, and say hurtful things and bother people, but at that point in time, they really can't help it. Others in the church, says Simmons, need to understand and minister to them, rather than trying to run them off the road, or out of the church, or trying to out-bright them. Some people simply have their lights stuck on high beam for awhile and can't help it. It would make all the difference in the world if we knew all the facts, wouldn't it? Here is the second: HAVE YOU EARNED THE RIGHT TO PASS JUDGEMENT? That is, when you are tempted to belittle someone else's efforts in the church, first ask, am I doing everything I should be doing to serve Christ myself? If you can answer in the affirmative, maybe ” just maybe, you are on more solid ground. Comedian Danny Kaye frequently entertains at the Palladium in London where he draws standing-room-only crowds. On free afternoons, he loves to roam around the city or take in matinees. On one such afternoon, he took in a play that was being received with the reserve we've come to associate with the British. As the play was letting out, Danny overheard the play being discussed by three British army officers who were standing stiffly to one side: "Ghastly," said one. "Beastly," agreed the second. The third was tight-lipped. He didn't say a word. One of the vocal ones turned to him. "And what was your opinion, Colonel?" he asked. The Colonel explained that he had come on a pass. "Hardly cricket to speak out under the circumstances," he added. "But if you gentlemen will excuse me . . ." and with that he strode to the box office a few feet away and bought a ticket. He was back in a moment with a ticket. "A stinker, gentlemen," he said tersely, "a stinker." (6) I like that third man's approach. Until he bought a ticket he felt he was in no position to criticize. When you are tempted to complain about what kind of parent someone else is, first ask whether you are entirely the kind of parent you ought to be. Before criticizing someone else's character, ask if you have arrived at perfection yourself. If we put our criticism to that test, most of us will be mute. For we, too, are sinners saved by grace. Do you know all the facts? Have you earned the right to pass judgement? There is a little story that actually comes from the Islamic religion that sums up the biblical attitude toward the very human tendency to pass judgement on others. There was an old man who earned his living by selling all sorts of odds and ends. It seemed as if the man had no judgment because people would frequently pay him in bad coins, and he would accept them without a word of protest; or people would claim they had paid him when they hadn't, and he accepted their word for it. When it was time for him to die, he raised his eyes to heaven and said, "Oh, Allah! I have accepted many bad coins from people, but never once did I judge them in my heart. I just assumed that they were not aware of what they did. I am a bad coin too. Please do not judge me." And a Voice was heard that said, "How is it possible to judge someone who has not judged others?" (7) Do you know all the facts? Have you earned the right to judge others? Only One has earned the right to judge others. He did it on a cross 2,000 years ago. And the amazing thing is that he was the most tolerant, loving, accepting man who ever lived. If we knew all the facts, it would make a difference. After running a picture of new United States senators taking the oath of office, one local newspaper received a critical and sarcastic letter. The writer complained, "The senator from Hawaii doesn't know his right hand from his left." Senator Inouye of Hawaii took the oath with his left hand raised and not the right one. But there was something the picture in the newspaper did not show, and the critical writer did not know. After the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Dan Inouye joined the army. He fought in Italy and won the Distinguished Service Cross, the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart with clusters. When he took the oath of office as a senator, he did it with his left hand raised instead of his right because he lost his right arm in the service of his country. (5) We could save ourselves a lot of embarrassment if knew all the facts before we criticized someone else. That is the first question. Do you know all the facts? A couple of years ago on a Saturday morning at 8:30 a.m., shattered car window glass was everywhere and the back seat empty. A shocked Julia Whalen, fresh from an early morning hair appointment, stared in disbelief. Her wedding dress purchased eight months before had been stolen from the back seat of her parents' borrowed car and the wedding was hours away. "I was hysterical, crying, 'My dress has been stolen! We'll have to cancel the wedding!' " "We'll find you a new dress," a friend reassured. A sympathetic security guard heard the commotion and called several stores until he found a store detective at Marshall Fields and asked if he could open the store early so a young lady could shop for a dress and get to her wedding. "My heart really went out to her. I wanted to do whatever I could do to help," the detective said, "Yeah. She will be in Marshall Fields shopping for a dress. Send her on up." Several Fields employees were waiting for her when she arrived. They didn't have a bridal department so they found an off-white sleeveless formal in the hard to find size two. Then off to the shoe department they went while her friends went in search of pantyhose. Surprisingly calm, Julia finally blitzed the cosmetics counter because the thieves, along with the dress, had taken even the bridal make-up kit. Arriving at the church for photos at ten, the bride told the pastor of her adventure. In the service the minister reminded the couple of obstacles already faced and overcome. "No matter what kind of obstacle you encounter, you can always overcome it with faith, family, and friends."5

Living a life of Love Part II

Romans 13:8-14 Living a Life of Love (Part II) September 6, 2020 14th Sunday After Pentecost Year A Prelude Welcome Opening Prayer Gracious God, we come this day seeking courage and hope for the future. Our world is in such peril. Heal these wounds and quiet the words of war. Help us to be those who bring peace in our families and communities. Banish the darkness of doubt and fear; anoint us with your light and love that we may spread the good news of your mercy to everyone. In Jesus’ name we pray. AMEN. Stewardship Moment We all know that Mr. Rogers was a minister. He realized that he could better do the work of God on television, than in the pulpit. So it is no surprise that the name of his show would be Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. Jesus golden rule was to love your neighbor as we love ourselves. Our neighbors are not just people who live near us, but all of God’s children. When we give to our neighbor, we are giving to God. When we withhold our offerings, we withhold from God. Let us be willing to help our neighbors in our offering. Prayer of Dedication/Offering May the gifts we offer, Loving God, feed those who are hungry, as you have fed us with your Word. May these gifts give those who thirst for hope a cup which is overflowing. May our gifts be used to welcome all those who are your children, our sisters and brothers in this life. Amen. Scripture Love Fulfills the Law 8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,”[a] and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b] 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. The Day Is Near 11 And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.[c] Sermon I was listening to shine fm yesterday. Sometimes I really enjoy the lessons that the dj’s talk about in between the songs. Yesterday one of them talked about the law of opposites. I think it was Karl Marx who talked about this concept. That whatever we seek in life, it is usually the opposite thing that shows up. For instance, if we are people who always seek pleasure, eventually the things that make us happy will make us sad. If we are always seeking security, the more insecure we feel, the more we seek money – the more bills we have to pay. The dj said that perhaps that is why in Matthew 16 – Jesus says that whoever tries to save their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life on behalf of God will gain it. The law of opposites. Well our lesson today is about the law of love. In Romans 13 we are commanded to love. We are to chose love in all situations. We are to respond to all situations with love, even when we encounter hate or something else. Storyteller Bill Harley tells a simple story about a children's T-ball game he witnessed a few years ago. On one of the T-ball teams was a young girl named Tracy. Tracy ran with a limp. She couldn't hit the ball to save her life. But everyone cheered for her anyway. Finally, in her team's last game, Tracy did the unthinkable. She hit the ball. Tracy's coach began hollering for her to run the bases. She landed on first base, only to be told to keep on running. She rounded second base, and the fans stood to their feet and cheered. With one voice, they were all urging Tracy to head home. But as she neared third base, Tracy noticed an old dog that had loped onto the field. It was sitting near the baseline between third plate and home. Moments away from her first home run, Tracy made a momentous decision. She knelt in the dirt and hugged the dog. Tracy never made it to home plate. But the fans cheered for her anyway. She had made her priorities clear. Love was more important than winning. (4) Love is more important than winning. Love is even more important than keeping all the rules. In I Corinthians 13, St. Paul says, "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing." Do you get the point? Love is everything. Some may think that perhaps she made the wrong choice, she didn’t stay focused on the game. She didn’t complete what she was doing. But she felt there was something more important going on in that situation, an opportunity to show love to a creature of God in need. Romans 12 and 13 talk about our relationship with life. In the beginning of chapter 13, Paul encourages us to be actively involved in life, to support our leaders, to obey the laws of the land. Verse 8 starts out by telling us to make sure we pay our debts. We should handle our bills the old fashioned way – pay them. Paul says that the only debt that we should have is love. The only thing that we should owe people is love. Now when Paul tells us about the law of love, he is not telling us to be nice all of the time, to be the person that saves the day, and faces any situation with love. Actually Paul is not worried about us being too nice – I think his intention is the exact opposite. He does not want us to ever get to the point where we feel we need to defend Christianity. He does not want us to get comfortable using hate, resentment, or any other negative emotion in the name of the church. He does want us to get to the point where we feel we have to fight fire with fire, or practice an eye for an eye. He doesn’t want the law of opposites to take over the ministry of the church. Jesus knew, and Paul came to realize that the biggest threat to the church was not out there somewhere. It continues to be right here in this room. It is ourselves, and the ways in which we treat one another. And the ways that we explain away the behavior of others, and we allow others to be treated. It is inevitable – whether we are a family, a church or just a gathering. Wherever 2or 3 are gathered, there is going to be some form of woundedness, someone is going to feel hurt, someone is going to feel offended, someone is going to feel victimized. Whereever 2or 3 are gathered there is going to be sin – jealousy, resentment, nosiness. Sin is something in your life that at the moment is more important to you than God and God’s commandment to love one another. Romans 13:8 says – Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The 10 commandments are instructions to love one another is a world that shows no love. Sermon on the mount – sermon on unconditional love. There is really no way that you can escapte the law of love. In the fall there is this new show coming on called Revenge. I am dying to watch it. It is a series about a beautiful young woman whose father was killed. The tag line of the show says this is not a show about forgiveness. I have been scratching my head all summer dying to understand what that means. Even the Hebrew bible says an eye for an eye. In other worlds once you kill the person that killed your father – its over, the debt has been paid and it is time to move on. Revenge for revenge sake is crazy thinking. And people who walk around thinking that it is their job to seek revenge become crazy soul sick people. They not only put their souls in a very dangerous place, they become dangerous people. Forgiveness and reconciliation is not about the other person, it is always about you. It cleans your soul and allows you to move on. Forgiveness and reconciliation are the major part of God’s law of love. There is no escaping it, and we all have to come to that realization in life whether we want to or not. Every story is a story of forgiveness and reconciliation eventually. Creation is God’s law, justice is God’s law, mercy is God’s law and love is God’s law. You cant escpae it no matter how hard you try. Where 2or 3 are gathered there is sin – but in the midst of it all there is also love. Because there is Jesus Christ in the midst. The only weapon that we are given to deal with life is love. Either we are living under the law of opposites, or the law of love. There are 3 more chapters in the book of Romans, and then we go to Phillippians. I have said if you want to know all about Christianity, the only book that you need to read is Romans. Romans explains it all. Chapters 1-12 talk about what it means to be a Christian and the relationship that we should have with love. Chapter 13 is a call to action – to not just know what love is, but to live it actively in life. Chapters 14-16 is a case study, Paul names an actual church conflict, and reminds those who are participating to act in love to resolve the issue. We who call ourselves Christian are all challenged to deal with our problems in life and in the church with one tool – love. Let us pray……. Prayer Prayer of the Day In days of uncertainty, it is to focus only on what we need to get done each day, so, call us to turn and see your compassion burning (but not reduced to ashes) for those living in loneliness. When we drag our feet, help us to remover all which we believe protects us from the heat of your justice, so that we can feel the warmth of your heart for the forgotten. YOU ARE the One we search for, God of all held captive by fear. In these days of isolation, it is easy to become stumbling blocks to your longing for the most vulnerable. So, polish our hardhearted resistance that we can become those smooth pebbles you use to pour a path to your community. When we think you only have time to listen to our disrupted lives, you open your heart to us, so we can see it’s brokenness, for the lost, the least, the little, that we can care for them as deeply as do you. YOU ARE the One who leads us to freedom, Servant of the poor. In the cacophony of angry voices and words dripping with bitterness, we wonder how we can dare to speak of you peace and hopes. So, fill us with such a harvest of words, that they will spill out of our hearts and tumble out of our mouths. When we are tempted to close our eyes because of all the cruelty and pain taking root in our neighborhoods, fill our hands with grace and love to share with all your children. YOU ARE the One who teaches us new ways, Impassioned Spirit. God in Community, Holy in One, YOU ARE WHO YOU ARE, and we lift our prayer to you, saying, Lord’s Prayer Time of Reflection Love Divine, All Love’s Excelling UMH 384 Communion Great Prayer of Thanksgiving May God be with you. May God be with you. Lift your hearts to our God. We offer them to the One who loves us. Let us join in glad songs of praise. Gathered or scattered, we sing our thanksgivings to our God. In just a moment, creation sprang forth from the emptiness of chaos, and you began to pour out all your goodness and genuine love, God of all moments. In just a moment, or so it seems, uncertainty and fear sprang forth from everything that we call normal. Yet, in these continuing times of isolation, distancing, wearing masks, the earth continues to rejoice with sunsets which take our breath away, the winds continue to whisper us to sleep as the drift through the trees, the kindness and generosity of neighbors as well as strangers, remind us that, in those moments, when all hope seemed to be lost, that is when you sent your Beloved to come, to be us, to walk with us. So, we will join our voices with those who continue to follow faithfully as well as with those who stumble, singing our praises to you: Holy, holy, holy are you, God of Wonder. In moments of confusion, you make clear your grace. In days which seem endless, you hold our times in your hands. In the midst of fears and worries, you watch over us. Hosanna in the highest! Yes, you are holy, God of all creation, yet you listen to the prayers of the forgotten, sending Jesus to come and share your love with us. knowing the cracks in our broken hearts, he came to craft stained glass windows of grace. seeing our shattered relationships, he came to make us whole. experiencing the fear of death which is especially profound these days, he came to defeat its supposed power. hearing the silent whispers of our fearful hearts, he comes to remind us of the love which was revealed in the resurrection and which remains the promise to us. in these days of wondering and wandering, we seek to remember, not just his words, his life, but the trust he had in you in every moment, even as we speak of that mystery we know as faith: In moments of grief, Jesus weeps with us. In moments of despair, Jesus hopes with us. In moments of fear, Jesus walks with us. In moments of uncertainty, Jesus comforts us. Whether gathered in a sanctuary at a safe distance from each other, or at a table in the kitchen, or a desk sitting in front of a device, we pray you would pour out your Spirit upon all your people everywhere and the gifts to be used for this feast. As we prepare to gather around your Table, God of Love, pour out your Spirit upon us, and on the gifts of the bread and cup. Though broken, the bread is the rich food of grace and mercy, strengthening us so we may go forth to continue to care for friend and stranger, to feed those we love and those we distrust. With the cup of grace and justice, we pray you would quench our thirst for power, transforming us into the rich, full wine of servanthood, so we might choose, caring over cruelty, denial over fame, humility over pride, peace over anger, love over evil. And when you gather all our sisters and brothers from every scattered time and place, we will join our hearts singing your praise, God in Community, Holy in One. Amen. Announcements The Health Team will meet today after church to talk about where we are and how we should proceed in worship in the coming months. You are welcome to join the meeting. You are welcome to offer suggestions and concerns. Next Friday is September 11th. Instead of having a special prayer this Sunday, I decided that I will have a special prayer service on that day. It will be a Facebook Live. I will also put the short prayer service on our Youtube channel. The service will be at noon. Less than 10 people are welcome to join the service in the chapel. The scripture for next week will be Romans 14:1-12. The song for reflection will be Guide Me , O thou Great Jehovah UMH 127 Benediction Whether gathered in a sanctuary or scattered wherever we live, we will take the love of God into the world. In these uncertain times, we will share the steadfast love of our God. Whether from familiar places we call home, or from sacred places we have not visited in a long time, we will take the grace of Jesus into our neighborhoods. For all the lonely, the forgotten, the scared, we will share the justice and compassion of Jesus. Whether on our own, or joining with friends, whether serving those we know, and especially those we don’t, we will be the people of the Holy Spirit. We will open our arms wide, even from a safe distance, to welcome all of sisters and brothers. Children’s Sermon Object: A telephone Good morning, boys and girls. The great storyteller, Aesop, once told a story about four bulls who were great friends. They went everywhere together, fed together, and lay down to rest together. Always they stayed close to each other so that if any danger were near they could all face it together. Now there was a lion which had been stalking them for some time, but he could never get at them singly--for they were always together. The lion knew he was a match for any one of them alone, but not for all four at once. So, the lion would watch for his opportunity, and when one lagged the least bit behind the others as they grazed, he would slink up close to the straggler and whisper that the other bulls had been saying unkind things about him. The lion did this with great persistence until at last the four friends became uneasy and suspicious. Each thought the other three were plotting against him. Finally, as there was no longer trust among them, they went off by themselves, their friendship broken. The roaring lion had his victory. One by one he killed them all, and made four good meals. It's important for people who care about one another to stick together. Sometimes we do that by phone. Sometimes we do that by a caring note. Sometimes with a warm greeting. Love is the most important characteristic of a Christian. We need to love one another, look out for one another and always stick together. Additional Illustrations The Second Advent is a far less chronologically captured moment. The Second Advent celebrates Christ’s continued presence in our lives, our churches, our homes, our communities, our world. In today’s text Paul alludes to this on-going presence when he declares how “our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed” (v.11). The gift of the Holy Spirit, given to all, brings the power and presence of the divine into the everyday, each day. This presence is the impenetrable “armor of light” Paul counsels the Roman Christians to “put on.” When we “clothe” ourselves in “the Lord Jesus Christ” we wrap the Second Advent around ourselves. I love Paul’s image of “wrapping” ourselves in this “armor” or “garment” of light. Have you ever noticed how, when a degree is conferred on someone who is entering a “profession,” there is some sort of special garment that accompanies the new designation? The garment signifies that the person wearing it is armored to fight evil in the world. A medical doctor is garbed with a full-length white coat. It is while wearing this garment that the doctor wages war against disease and injury. The newly “robed” Ph.D. wears the colors and stripes that declare war on ignorance and challenge the scholar to a life devoted to continued learning. A police officer or fire-fighter gets to wear a uniform that battles the malevolent forces of our communities. In the same way, Christians who “clothe” themselves in Christ are “armored” for the battles of the Second Advent. Living in the overlap, the “in-between times” of the new age between “now” and “not yet,” there are real and true powers of darkness that walk among us. In this Second Advent we feel the pull of both the “now” and the “not yet:” the “now” of sales on socks and stoves, diamonds and doodads and the “not yet” where dark December nights can pulse with power and peace and purpose in our families, churches, and communities. “In the Midwest there is a version of the nativity story with an unanticipated conclusion. It is a true story about a nine-year-old named Wallace Purling. He was in the second grade that year, although he should have been in the fourth. He had difficulty keeping up, was a little slow and clumsy but was also very kind. The kids tried to exclude him from their games, but Wally hung around, ever the protector of the children at risk. Wally so hoped to be a shepherd with a wooden flute in the nativity play that December. Miss Lumbard, however, assigned him a minor speaking part, that of the innkeeper. Wally got caught up in the timeless story unfolding on the stage as he stood, mesmerized, in the wings. When the time came, Joseph tenderly guided Mary to the door of the inn. Joseph knocked hard on the plywood, and Wally the innkeeper was there waiting. Wally tired to sound brusque when Joseph asked for lodging. ‘Seek it elsewhere. The inn is filled,’ said Wally as he stared straight ahead. ‘We have asked everywhere in vain. We have traveled far and are very weary,’ Joseph tried again. Once again, a stern-looking Wally reiterated the fact: there was no room in the inn. ‘Please, good innkeeper, this is my wife, Mary. She is heavy with child and needs a place to rest. Surely you must have some small corner for her. She is so tired. Wally relaxed his stiff pose and, for the first time, really looked at Mary. He paused so long that the audience began to get nervous. The prompter from the wings whispered: ‘Be gone!’ Wally repeated the whisper: ‘Be gone.’ Joseph sadly put his arm around the pregnant Mary; she rested her head on his shoulder as the two slowly moved away. The innkeeper did not move. He stood transfixed in the doorway of the cardboard inn. His mouth opened, his brown furrowed, and his eyes filled with tears. And suddenly this Christmas pageant took an unexpected turn. ‘Don’t go, Joseph,’ Wally called after them. ‘Bring Mary back.’ Now Wally Purling’s face shone. “You can have my room.’ Was this a ruined Christmas pageant? Or was this the best Christmas pageant ever? Here is a version of the 23rd Psalm that ought to be mandatory reading each day of Advent, and a unison reading each Advent Sunday. The lord is my pace setter . . . I shall not rush He makes me stop for quiet intervals He provides me with images of stillness which restore my serenity He leads me in the way of efficiency through calmness of mind and his guidance is peace Even though I have a great many things to accomplish each day, I will not fret, for his presence is here His timelessness, his all importance will keep me in balance He prepares refreshment and renewal in the midst of my activity by anointing my mind with his oils of tranquility My cup of joyous energy overflows Truly harmony and effectiveness shall be the fruits of my hours for I shall walk in the Pace of my Lord and dwell in his house for ever. --A version of Psalm 23 from Japan, as reprinted in Mother Teresa, Life in the Spirit: Reflections, Meditations, Prayers, ed. Kathryn Spink (San Francisco, Harper & Row, 1983), 76-77. We ask such questions, even if only silently and guiltily, every time we hear those questions - because loving our neighbors is where most of us fail as Christians. It sounds so noble in the Bible but doing it in the world is something else. When we try to do it, we run head on into ourselves, into our memories of rejection and misunderstanding, into bruised egos and hurt feelings. Loving one another is such a grand thing to preach about, so damnably hard to do. We’ve tried it so many times - we really have! - and have been disappointed so often. Eugene Ionesco wrote a play sometime ago entitled, The Airwalker. The chief character, Berringer, is walking one day in the countryside. Suddenly he realizes that the greatest thing that can happen to anyone is love. The more he thinks about it, the more exalted he becomes. All at once he finds himself suspended above the ground. The more he thinks about love, the higher he goes. People gather to gape up at him and exclaim. Berringer shouts "Love and you can go up one rung of the ladder after another. You can climb one branch after another. You can do anything!" He feels that by loving he can achieve anything. "Go as high as you’d like!" he cries. Then he disappears, and there is silence on the stage. In a little while, he slowly comes down again. He is depressed and dejected. Berringer concludes by saying he went up so high that he saw beyond our existence and found no hope at all. I am not sure what Eugene Ionesco was trying to say, but I am sure I understand how Berringer felt. I am sure you do, also. All of us have tried loving one another, and it does work for a while. But then something happens. We get rebuffed, or manipulated, or misunderstood. Then we come back down to earth, hurt and confused and hopeless. "Love one another!" we say. "Good for Sunday school teachers and preachers, but it won’t work in the world. Love one another! Jesus-talk and pulpit nonsense! Not for me, thank you!" Yes, it is for you and me and all of us hopelessly indebted Christians. "The problem, dear Brutus," as Shakespeare said, "is not in the stars but in ourselves, that we are underlings. Leo Tolstoy, a magnificent Christian as well as a magnificent author, was walking one day through the streets of Leningrad at the height of the great famine which swept through Russia in his day. He passed a beggar on the street corner. Stretching out his gaunt hands, with blue lips and sunken eyes, the beggar asked for money. Tolstoy felt in his pockets and could not find even a penny. He took the beggar’s hands in both of his and said, "Do not he angry with me, brother. I have no money with me." The beggar’s face lighted up, and he lifted his bloodshot eyes with a smile: "But you called me brother! Thank you for such a gift." Tolstoy hurried home for some money, but when he returned a short time later, the beggar was dead. On his cold face the smile still lingered. His body was dead, but Tolstoy’s kindness had made his heart warm. "Owe no one anything, except to love one another." Leo Tolstoy did it. He was a Christian forever in debt to love. He learned to pay on that debt by loving others for God’s sake and for their own sake. As he did, so can we. The dynamic law of love. Certainly love has been the dynamic that has kept the church of Jesus Christ alive and moving forward throughout the ages. There are no Lone Ranger Christians in the New Testament. To be a Christian was to be part of a family, part of a fellowship, part of a body. "Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name," taught Jesus, "there I am in the midst of them." Notice that--"wherever two or three are gathered." Now the baptized pagan says, "I can worship God on the golf course on Sunday mornings just as easily as I can in church." But Jesus says, "Not so." The Christian faith is a faith of relationships--a relationship with God and a relationship with one another within the body of Christ. The dynamic law of love. Let's think for a few moments about the power of love in our lives. But again, these folks were living proof of the dynamic law of love. Dr. Donald Hatch Andrews, professor emeritus of chemistry at John Hopkins University, expresses it this way: Raise one of your fingers and wiggle it. When you wiggle that finger you are tickling every atom in the universe. Professor Andrews says that researchers have found that the atomic nature of our universe is so incredibly sensitive that a person cannot move a hand or finger without changing the relationship of every atom in the universe to every other atom in the universe. He says that if someone were to open their lips to speak, and if you could see what was happening, you would realize that there is a current of energy flowing from the speaker's lips and into the universe to become a living and vital part of it. (2) There is an old story about the wife of one of Cyrus's generals who was charged with treachery against the king. She was called before Cyrus, and after the trials she was sentenced to death. Her husband didn't find out about what was happening until the trial was almost over. He rushed to the scene as quickly as possible. When he heard the sentence condemning his wife to death, he threw himself before the king and begged, "Oh, Sire, take my life instead of hers. Let me die in her place!" Cyrus was so touched that he said, "Love like that must not be spoiled by death," and he gave them back to each other and gave the wife her freedom. As they walked away, happy and relieved, the husband asked, "Did you notice how kindly the king looked upon us when he gave you the pardon?" His wife answered softly, "I had no eyes for the king. I saw only the man who was willing to die for me." On the cross of Calvary we have seen the man who was willing to die for us. And we realize that, in response to the love that was poured out on the hill of Golgotha, we can no longer live our lives in concern only for our own well-being. "Others," as William Booth once said, is the important word: "Others." And the ironic thing is that it is in losing our lives for others that we find the true joy of living. The most miserable people in the world are those who are continually looking out for themselves. We were not created to live that way. We are not islands. In the White House there is a portrait of Theodore Roosevelt painted by John Singer Sargent. A fascinating story lies behind the picture. Sargent had been patiently waiting for days to see the president so that he could arrange time to do the portrait. One morning, by chance, he met the president as he was descending the stairway in the mansion. Sargent asked anxiously when would be a convenient time for Mr. Roosevelt to pose for the picture. "Now," the president snapped back. The finished painting has Roosevelt standing at the foot of the stairs, his hand on the newel post. An outstanding picture has caught the dynamic qualities of this man of action. Was the president trying to tell the artist, "Moments come and go ... Here is the time, seize it, do your best"? Now, in the beginning of the Advent season, is the time to return to the present. Our Lord wants to break into our lives and help us as we struggle with our problems. He wants to release the gifts hidden within us. He wants to do something new in our lives. Awake, Christ is coming. Christ is coming now. CSS Publishing Company, EMPOWERED BY THE LIGHT, by Richard Hasler A tragic story came out of Columbus, Ohio sometime back. Two elderly sisters, Naomi and Ruth Schreiner, starved to death in their home. Police found absolutely no food in the house. They did find little rolls of newspaper on plates where the women, in a futile attempt at survival, had been eating a newspaper. How do such things happen in cities with thousands of followers of Christ in them? And yet they do happen. And as more elderly people live alone and as the population of those stricken with unforgiving diseases like Alzheimer's grows, we will see more such tragedies. Somebody has got to do something! Love demands it. Sanibonani – that means hello to you all in Zulu – the language of blacks in South Africa. And you would respond….. Another important zulu word is ubuntu. Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu have made this word popular around the world. It is a very important word in all of African culture. It means I am because you are. It means that my humanity is tied up in who you are. It means I am a human being because of you. You define my life. It is a spirit of community, togetherness. It drives us to help others. It is also the definition of love. Because true love is not a feeling, or emotion. True love is who we are as a church, how we treat one another, how loyal we are to the whole and not just to some of the parts. The way in which we love one another is a reflection of God. Over the next few weeks in our lessons we will deal with who we are as a church and what Jesus calls the church to be. We will talk about how we are supposed to treat one another. Matthew 15-35 will deal with the very topic. Christ realized that the only way his disciples could carry on his work was to work together in community. If there were things that stood in the way of loving one another, there were things that stood in the middle of the mission. Ubuntu is unity. But I also need to say that not all unity is healthy. There are times when we are united by our own survival and self interest. There are times when we are united because we have a secret. Sometimes we are united because of unhealthy emotions. Only unity in Christ is ubuntu – true love. We only have two more chapters of Romans until we start to deal with the four chapters of Phillippians. In Romans, Paul is telling new Christians how to be the body of Christ in the face of Roman oppression. In Matthew Jesus is preparing the disciples for the persecution ahead. It is interesting that Jesus mentions the word church in these verses, and yet Jesus would not have known what a church was. Matthew was writing in the second century of the early church. There too was a small struggling community, struggling against the circumstances of life.
If you look at Matthew 18 – it spells out the rules for confronting sin within the Christian community. Confronting sin means stop pretending that there is nothing wrong. Whatever it is, it needs to come out in the open. Things that live in darkness, secrecy and unspoken understandings become the devil’s playground. When the meeting in the parking lot becomes more important than the meeting at the table, something is wrong. Problems that are never dealt with continue to fester and get worse. When they come to the light of Christ – they are resolved and they go away. Matthew 16 says that there is a process to the way that you confront. First you come face to face with the person and you confront them alone to tell them what they did wrong (or what you think they did wrong). Then you being a witness along with you, and then you confront them with the entire church. And you pray through the whole process. Another person put it this way… 1. Put Your Complaint into Words 2. Tell the Person about It in Person 3. Counsel with Other Wise Christians.
4. Make Use of the Christian Fellowship.
5. Never Give up Trying The most important thing to remember is that you cant have confrontation without reconciliation. The point of the process is to learn to forgive.
A story of 4 friends
Four friends gathered for lunch after church as they did every Sunday. They went into their favorite café to talk. They had gathered for so long – that the conversation could go anywhere. They could be talking about their gardens and which vegetables didn’t come up this year. They could be talking about the new sewing project one had started, they could be talking about the new garage one just had designed. Then the conversation flows to more practical issues – the sermon they heard, the music the choir sang/
Today as the four picked their seat – one noticed that there was a young man at the table next to them – sitting all alone. She seemed to have recognized him – she could see the family resemblance – she must have known his father.
But she too immediately got into the conversation. The conversation always goes from church business to church gossip. And she had a good one to talk about – Patty. Patty was in the choir with her, but when she saw her at the grocery store last Saturday she did not even speak. It seems that every since Patty inherited that money from uncle, she has become very stuck up. She doesn’t talk to anyone. But this time our friend was offended. She did not appreciate this treatment at all.
Did you speak to Patty? Asks one of the friends. This person obviously didn’t understand the situation. If you noticed what was going on with Patty did you speak to Patty. As the friend looks away – she notices the gaze of the young man at the next table – he is looking right at her, his eyes seem sad, even a little concerned. But he is very quiet.
As her attention goes back to her friends- and the conversation she is upset but she listens to their advice. Maybe you should just go to Patty and ask her what is going on. You never know until you talk with her. If you sense there there is a problem talk with her – afterall, we are church members. Jesus calls us to forgive one another and to resolve our differences. When we feel that we have been hurt – Jesus asks us not to dwell in the pain – but to go directly to the person and resolve the issue. If you cant resolve the issue between the two of you – take some others with you. Afterall – Jesus reminds us that he is always with us – where two or three are gathered his presence is there.
And suddenly it came to her – she recognized the young man at the table- he did indeed look just like his father. Whom she knew so well also. But she also realized why her relationships with those in her church were so important. Because wherever those relationships were present – so was that young man who looked so familiar.

That young man was Jesus Christ himself. Jesus says that where 2 or 3 are gathered, so is Christ. The combination of us and Christ unleashes a powerful spirit. In the face of God we have to put aside our selfishness, our pride, our predjudice and the the holy spirit reign in the situation.
You have to realize that you love God more than you love being right. Because whatever it is that hold your spirit, hold you.
There is a Russian saying that we need to make peace with people and make war with our sin. Sometimes even in the church we like to do the opposite.

Forgiveness is a choice to put our future in God’s hands. Oprah said forgiveness is finally realizing that whatever it was that happened in the past, there is nothing you can do to change it. I would add that forgiveness is the decision to put it all in God’s hands. Forgiveness is the choice to leave the past behind and to live in God’s future. Christ calls us not to get so caught up in the way things are, and to embrace the way things can be. To create heaven here on earth – just in your attitude. To free ourselves of whatever it is that is holding us back.

True Freedom in Forgiveness
When Bill Clinton met Nelson Mandela for the first time, he had a question on his mind: "When you were released from prison, Mr. Mandela," the former President said, "I woke my daughter at three o'clock in the morning. I wanted her to see this historic event." Then President Clinton zeroed in on his question: "As you marched from the cellblock across the yard to the gate of the prison, the camera focused in on your face. I have never seen such anger, and even hatred, in any man as was expressed on your face at that time. That's not the Nelson Mandela I know today," said Clinton. "What was that about?"

Mandela answered, "I'm surprised that you saw that, and I regret that the cameras caught my anger. As I walked across the courtyard that day I thought to myself, ‘They've taken everything from you that matters. Your cause is dead. Your family is gone. Your friends have been killed. Now they're releasing you, but there's nothing left for you out there.' And I hated them for what they had taken from me. Then, I sensed an inner voice saying to me, ‘Nelson! For twenty-seven years you were their prisoner, but you were always a free man! Don't allow them to make you into a free man, only to turn you into their prisoner!'"
You can never be free to be a whole person if you are unable to forgive.
Ubuntu – I can only be as human as I allow you to be.

We all have the power to bind and the power to set free. Whatever you are still holding onto – is still holding on to you. Whether it is the past, a person, an injustice, a resentment – God is asking you right now to let it go. That is the law of God’s love. With faith comes goodness, with goodness comes knowledge, with knowledge comes self control, with self control comes endurance, with endurance comes godliness, with godliness comes mutual affection, with mutual affection comes love. Let us pray.