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