Life is Just that Simple

October 25, 2020 21st Sunday After Pentecost Matthew 22:34-46 Year A Opening Music Welcome Opening Prayer Welcome to the house of God’s love. Is this the right time? Is God’s love available now? God’s love is always here, always ready. But what about emergencies? What if the system crashes? God’s love has been around since the beginning, and it will be here after the ending. We’re ready to live in God’s love, 24/7! Stewardship Moment Offering From the abundant ways in which God has blessed our lives, let us share our tithes and offerings in joy and gratitude. Let us receive our morning offering. Prayer of Dedication As you have poured your healing love into our lives, O God, we now offer these gifts to you. Let them be used in ministries of peace and justice through the work of this church in your world. AMEN. Scripture Matthew 22:34-46 Common English Bible Great commandment 34 When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had left the Sadducees speechless, they met together. 35 One of them, a legal expert, tested him. 36 “Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 He replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being,[a] and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: You must love your neighbor as you love yourself.[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.” Question about David’s son 41 Now as the Pharisees were gathering, Jesus asked them, 42 “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” “David’s son,” they replied. 43 He said, “Then how is it that David, inspired by the Holy Spirit, called him Lord when he said, 44 The Lord said to my lord, ‘Sit at my right side until I turn your enemies into your footstool’?[c] 45 If David calls him Lord, how can he be David’s son?” 46 Nobody was able to answer him. And from that day forward nobody dared to ask him anything. Sermon Life is just that simple You may have never heard the name, but Karl Barth is one of the most famous theologians in the world. Every pastor who has ever been to seminary has at some point had to write a paper are Karl Barth. Barth was a German theologian who not only taught but also challenged the popular beliefs of his day. According to the best accounts of the incident I have heard (many have taken on weird additions), Karl Barth was at Rockefeller Chapel (really a Gothic cathedral!) on the campus of the University of Chicago during his lecture tour of the U.S. in 1962. After his lecture, during the Q & A time, a student asked Barth if he could summarize his whole life’s work in theology in a sentence. Barth allegedly said something like “Yes, I can. In the words of a song I learned at my mother’s knee: ‘Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” When we think of all of the problems of the world, we think that surely life cant be that simple. Books on the teachings of Jesus could fill this whole room, as a matter of fact this whole church. Karl Barth wrote over 600 books himself on the teachings of Jesus. In Jesus' day there was a group of people who pored over the ancient writings of Moses to look for every law in the book. They were called Pharisees and they were very scrupulous about the observance of all the religious laws. They counted up all the commandments of Moses and found that there were 613 of them; 248 of these were positive, and 365 of them were negative (one for every day of the year, they said). Instead of condensing and simplifying the commandments, they expanded and complicated them, so that what had started as a sincere desire to please God had become a terrible burden of ever-increasing requirements. They needed someone who could cut through all the burdensome requirements of the law and focus on its essence. Pastors spent a lot of time trying to simplify these rules into something that the average person could remember. When Jesus whittles the 10 commandments down to two, he may have been thinking of the words of another Rabbi - Hillel. One famous account in the Talmud (Shabbat 31a) tells about a gentile who wanted to convert to Judaism. This happened not infrequently, and this individual stated that he would accept Judaism only if a rabbi would teach him the entire Torah while he, the prospective convert, stood on one foot. First he went to Shammai, who, insulted by this ridiculous request, threw him out of the house. The man did not give up and went to Hillel. This gentle sage accepted the challenge, and said: "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation of this—go and study it!" Every morning and every night every faithful person was supposed to recite the Shema – to themselves and to their Children. Hear on Isreal, the Lord your God is one. Love the lord with all of your mind, your heart, your soul. This is the most important rule. Everyone knew these two rules, but Jesus loved to challenge popular thinking. As a matter of fact, that is the whole point of this scripture. In those days it was popular to challenge people by asking questions. The questions were not always confrontational. Questions were a way that you got to know who people really were. Questions bought out your differences. So as Jesus is teaching, the leaders of the day can’t help but to ask questions. Before this scripture for today, the Sadducees start to ask Jesus questions – which Jesus uses as a chance to teach about resurrection. Now the pharisees, whose job it is to know all 600 rules for life, are asking their own set of questions. Jesus knows his stuff, so he is prepared. Unfortunately, this is the last time that Jesus is questioned. Once the questions stop, the plot to get rid of him starts. They don’t want to change, so they set out to act upon their own misunderstandings of the law of grace. Jesus made a point to challenge the status quo and to redefine their and our understandings of the simple things in life. For instance Jesus repeats the greatest commandment – love the lord with all of your mind, heart and soul. But he challenges also. The second commandment love your neighbor is not just the second commandment, but also the third commandment – love your neighbor – as you love yourself. In order for you to love anyone else, including God – first you have to love yourself. Selfishness is not self love. When you love yourself, it is easy for you to love others. Loving Ourselves She was a beautiful Scandinavian girl. She had come to the hotel room of Dr. and Mrs. Walter Trobisch for counseling, just one day after they had given a lecture at one of the universities of northern Europe. As they talked about her problems, one basic issue kept coming up – one that seemed to be at the root at all her problems. She could not love herself! In fact, she hated herself so much that she was only a step away from ending her own life. She had been raised in a very religious home. Her parents were sincere, no doubt, but they had given her a terribly distorted understanding of the Christian life. Because of what her parents and pastors had taught her, she was afraid of affirming any good thing about herself. She was afraid that self- appreciation would lead to pride, and pride would lead to alienation from God. So, for her, the life of faith required self-depreciation – putting herself down! She believed that rejection of the self was the only way to God! That’s why her religious convictions led her to the brink of suicide. During the counseling session there in the hotel room, Dr. Trobisch led her to a mirror where he asked her to look carefully at her image. She turned away, unable to look at herself. He held her head gently but firmly and made her look into her own eyes. Obviously the experience was painful for her emotionally. Dr. Trobisch asked her to repeat after him: “I am a beautiful girl – I am a beautiful girl.” But she couldn’t do it. She just couldn’t do it - because in her eyes that was sinful. Where did we ever get the idea that to affirm ourselves, to appreciate ourselves is wrong? Certainly we didn’t get that from Jesus. When we read the gospels carefully, we discover that Jesus went around day after day looking for the good in people, pointing it out to them, and asking them to celebrate it. And, in the scripture from the 22nd chapter of Matthew, Jesus tells us to love our neighbors. How? As we love ourselves. Notice that Jesus does not say we are to love our neighbors instead of ourselves. We are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. It is inarguable: Jesus wants us to love ourselves! James McCormick, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com Love is a way of life. Love is a place inside of us that determines our actions. One day a certain man hurriedly headed out the door for work. In his path was the 3 year old son playing with blocks. The man patted the boy on the head, stepped over him, opened the door and went outside. Halfway down the walk a guilt bomb exploded within him. What am I doing, he thought to himself. I am ignoring my son. I never play with him. He’ll be old before I know it. In the background of his thoughts he heard to pounding of Cat’s in the Cradle – Harry Chapin’s balld to lost fatherhood. He returned to the house and sat down with his son and began to build blocks. After two minutes, the boy asked – Daddy, why are you mad at me? He was acting out of duty, not love and it was obvious to the 3 year old. A daughter took her other into her home after surgery. Things were okay until one day they got into an argument over a dirty plate. During the argument, the mother asked why are you doing all of this for me anyway. The daughter thought about it and came up with a million reasons - I don’t want anything to happen to you, I want to keep you safe, I worry about you, I wanted to prove that I was an adult, I wanted to show that I was strong. Finally the mother stopped her and said all of her reasons were a bunch of junk. They didn’t mean anything – the only reason that mattered was that they loved each other. When we act out of love it makes all of the difference in the world. One of the last questions that the pharisees asks is who is the messiah? Is the messiah really the son of David? Jesus points out that even though he is son of David, David still calls upon the messiah. David’s weapon of power was war. Jesus’ weapon of power was love. Love is stronger than war, that ‘s why David called upon a messiah. Jesus is the messiah because he reminds us of the power of love. Life is just that simple – love ourselves, love others love God. One is not more important than the others, they are all expressions of the same love. Let us pray… Prayer In the midst of frightening times when words of war soar to the heavens and anger seems to be the way to treat others and to respond to difficulty, be with us, merciful God. We do not want to live in these hideous ways. We seek your peace and healing love. Our hearts are filled with concern for our families and friends as well as those in far off lands who face great times of difficulties, illness, mourning. We share the names of those for whom we seek prayers knowing that you hear our cries and respond in love. Let us pray silently for a minute then offer the names of these dear ones. [Silent Prayer]. Yet in the midst of darkness your light of joy abounds within us as we share those moments which have caused us to rejoice in delight and love. Let us pray silently for a minute and then offer instances of joy that we have encountered this week. [Silent prayer.] Lord of hope and peace, we have brought before you the names of dear ones on our hearts. Some of the names have been uttered out loud in the congregation; others are whispered in our hearts. Be with all of us, O Lord. Heal our wounds. Direct our lives in pathways of peace. These things we offer in Jesus’ name. AMEN. Song for Reflection O God Our Help in Ages Past UMH 116 Benediction for Facebook Community Time Benediction As you leave this place, may God’s love surround you, uphold you, and empower you to be agents of love in this world. Amen. From The Abingdon Worship Annual, edited by Mary J. Scifres and B.J. Beu, Copyright © Abingdon Press. What Do You Want? What do you want? What do you want? That question is such a commonplace. The waitress comes up to your table and asks, "Do you know what you want?" and you reply, "The chicken salad on rye, please." The telemarketer whose phone call has interrupted your dinner drones on and on until finally you break in to ask, "Can you please just tell me what you want!" Your child barges into the den while you are trying to read a book and with a slight hint of irritation in your voice you ask, "Honey, what do you want?" Most of the time when that question gets asked, we don't blink at it. We answer it easily. But that same question can be taken in more than one way. In the movie Field of Dreams, there is a humorous moment when Kevin Costner's character has taken a crotchety, famous author, played by James Earl Jones, to a baseball game. On their way to their seats, Costner casually asks, "What do you want?" to which the author snaps, "I want people to leave me alone. I want people to stop asking me things. I want people to stop believing that I have all the answers to life's questions." "No," Costner replies pointing to the nearby concession stand, "What do you want?" The man then orders a hot dog and a beer! Scott Hoezee, What Do You Want? Sermon Opener – The Two Most Important Questions a Christian Can Answer – Matthew 22:34-46 Isidor Isaac Rabi, a Nobel Prize winner in Physics, and one of the developers of the atomic bomb, was once asked how he became a scientist. Rabi replied that every day after school his mother would talk to him about his school day. She wasn't so much interested in what he had learned that day, but how he conducted himself in his studies. She always inquired, "Did you ask a good question today?" "Asking good questions," Rabi said, "made me become a scientist." In order to ask a good question I think you need to have noble motives behind the question. You have to want to know the truth. The Pharisees, by contrast, already had the answers to their questions. They felt they already knew the truth. How many times have we had it in for someone, asking a question designed to trap them? We do it to our loved ones all the time. In a moment like this we are not trying to learn; we are trying to injure. The Pharisees come to Jesus once again with a question designed to do damage to the reputation of Jesus. And once again Jesus proves he is equal to the task. Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest? Now, even though this question was used to test Jesus, it is nonetheless an important question. Perhaps in the life of Israel at that time it was THE most important question. But Jesus had a question of his own. A question, which signified that the times were changing; a new theological season had come. He put this question to the same Pharisees who had tested him: “What do you think of the Messiah. Whose son is he?” Some people have a talent for getting to the core of things. Julius Caesar wrote a good-sized book titled On the Gallic War. It is still used as a textbook by students of Latin. However, Caesar was also able to cut through all the details and get to the nub of a matter. He wrote a sentence that has become a classic in condensation: "Veni, Vidi, Vici" — "I came, I saw, I conquered." That sums it all up. One of the Pharisees, perhaps dissatisfied with his own search for a meaningful religious life, approached Jesus and asked him which was the great commandment, the one that would satisfy God and oneself. In responding to the man, Jesus cut through all the liturgical requirements, taking from the book of Deuteronomy the requirement to love God, from Leviticus the requirement to love one's neighbor, and welding them together with an emphasis on love and not on the observance of a host of laws. For Jesus, meaningful religion was expressed in a triangle of love: love for God, love for others, and love for self. In that triangle of love is found the secret of a fulfilling life on earth and a foretaste of the life to come. Let's look more closely at what he said. First, he said, we must love God. One of the ways we do this, he said, is with the heart... In Love with Christ Legend has it that a wealthy merchant traveling through the Mediterranean world looking for the distinguished Pharisee, Paul, encountered Timothy, who arranged a visit. Paul was, at the time, a prisoner in Rome. Stepping inside the cell, the merchant was surprised to find a rather old man, physically frail, but whose serenity and magnetism challenged the visitor. They talked for hours. Finally the merchant left with Paul's blessing. Outside the prison, the concerned man inquired, "What is the secret of this man's power? I have never seen anything like it before." Did you not guess?" replied Timothy. "Paul is in love." The merchant looked bewildered. "In Love?" "Yes," the missionary answered, "Paul is in love with Jesus Christ." The merchant looked even more bewildered. "Is that all?" Smiling, Timothy replied, "Sir, that is everything." G. Curtis Jones, Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching, Nashville: Broadman, 1986, p. 225. The Complexity of the Situation The Constitution of the United States started off with only 7 articles and 21 sections that took up only four handwritten pages including signatures! 4 pages! But to that we added 27 amendments. Today, the United States Code, which is all of the laws in this country, fills up around 80 volumes of books, nearly 800,000 pages, and this doesn’t even include the Federal Regulations. In 1942, the Virginia Code was a single book that had 2800 pages. Today, the Virginia Code is a 25-volume set of books with 15,000 pages, nearly 20,000 separate laws! And that is just Virginia! But, let’s not think for a moment that we are the only ones to take something simple and make it complex. God gave the Israelites something simple to follow, the Ten Commandments. Just ten simple rules to follow. Nothing complex about it. But were the Israelites content with just ten commandments? Oh, no. They ended up making 613 separate commandments, 365 negative and 248 positive. Sounds like a lot doesn’t it? Try following all those laws in order to be considered faithful and righteous, and you probably thought the original ten was hard enough. For the lawyer and the Pharisees there was certainly a complex issue at stake. The Israelites were under assault from a man who claimed to be God, and who did God-like things. But this man was a Jew; he should have known better, no one is God, but God. Yet, he was a man who knew and quoted the Hebrew scripture, who knew the laws and commandments better than any religious leader. The Pharisees had to put a stop to it, the situation was getting out of control, it was becoming too complex to let it go on much longer. This man must be stopped and the only why to stop him was to discredit him. And what better way to discredit Jesus, the Jew, than to ask him such a question, on a complex issue about the greatest commandment, that any answer he gave would spell defeat. Author Unknown Shema In Jewish circles the single most famous verse from the Torah is the so-called Shema from Deuteronomy 6. "Shema" is the Hebrew word for "hear" or "listen" and it comes from that verse, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." The Shema was traditionally recited by every Jewish child and adult at the start of each day and at the conclusion of each day. In other words, there was no single verse from the entire Torah that the average Jew knew better than this one. So when Jesus responded to the Pharisees' tricky question by quoting a portion of the Shema, he was throwing back in their faces something they took to be exceedingly basic, something that was second-nature to even the youngest Jewish child. It reminds you of the time Karl Barth is said to have been asked what he thought was the most profound of all theological truths. But instead of giving some jargon-laden, academic answer that used words like perichoresis, kenosis, or the insuperable transcendence of God's prevenient grace as it comes through the vicarious supererogation of the Son, Barth simply said, "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so." That answer was charming and disarming. Barth said, "The greatest truth is the one you already know, the one all Christians know, the one a three-year old can sing about." In Jesus' case, he was slyly insulting the Pharisees, demonstrating to everyone there that the Pharisees were not really interested in seeing if Jesus could answer their question since even the youngest person there knew that answer already. This was not a difficult question. It was like asking Albert Einstein, "Do you know what 2+2 is?" This was basic, elementary stuff. Scott Hoezee, Comments and Observations You Can Read All Day The story is told of a little boy whose father taught mechanical engineering at a prestigious university. One day he came in the back door and asked his mother, “What time is it?” She wasn’t wearing a watch; plus, she was busy, so she said, “Your father's in the living room, go ask him.” The little boy shrugged his shoulders and said, “Never mind. I don’t want to know how to make a watch; I just want to know what time it is!” When it comes to religion and our understanding of the Christian faith, I suspect there are times when we all feel like this little boy. For example, there are sixty-six books of the Bible. Many of them are long and complex. For each book of the Bible there are commentaries explaining every nuance of every verse. If that weren’t enough, there are books on just about every conceivable topic of the Bible. There are books on church doctrine, Christian ethics and the history of Christianity. There are books on worship, mission, education, stewardship and prayer. Christian writers are all too happy to tell you how to improve your prayer life, your sex life, your golf score and your investment portfolio. O.K., maybe I’m exaggerating just a little bit. The point is you could read all day, every day, for the rest of your life and still not make a dent in the mountain of information available on understanding the Christian faith and what it means to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. Philip W. McLarty, The Christian Shema The Center of the Christian Universe There is no question, in the Bible, or in the history of the church, that love is the center of the Christian universe. It is one of three things, along with faith and hope, that lasts forever, and is the greatest of the three. It is the dynamis, the power that moves the world. It is the basic magnetism holding everything together: God's love for us, and our love for him and for each other. Just as carbon is the universal element of physical life, love is the universal element of spiritual life. "If I have not love," Paul said, "I am nothing," and he meant that literally. "Nothing!" Matthew Henry said love is "the spring and fountain of all the rest." But the word is much abused today. Love has been cheapened down to a Pavlovian response. Love has a million impostors, and many things that aren't love try to pass for it. How can we tell? What's the difference between Hollywood love and the love of God? William R. Boyer, Old Law, New Law What Do You Want? What do you want? What do you want? That question is such a commonplace. The waitress comes up to your table and asks, "Do you know what you want?" and you reply, "The chicken salad on rye, please." The telemarketer whose phone call has interrupted your dinner drones on and on until finally you break in to ask, "Can you please just tell me what you want!" Your child barges into the den while you are trying to read a book and with a slight hint of irritation in your voice you ask, "Honey, what do you want?" Most of the time when that question gets asked, we don't blink at it. We answer it easily. But that same question can be taken in more than one way. In the movie Field of Dreams, there is a humorous moment when Kevin Costner's character has taken a crotchety, famous author, played by James Earl Jones, to a baseball game. On their way to their seats, Costner casually asks, "What do you want?" to which the author snaps, "I want people to leave me alone. I want people to stop asking me things. I want people to stop believing that I have all the answers to life's questions." "No," Costner replies pointing to the nearby concession stand, "What do you want?" The man then orders a hot dog and a beer! Scott Hoezee, What Do You Want? “.

Rules of Community

October 4, 2020 Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20 Year A 18th Sunday After Pentecost The Rules of Community Opening Song Welcome Opening Prayer Opening Prayer (Psalm 19) Almighty God, your word bursts forth into our lives like a glorious sunrise. You speak, and our hearts rejoice. You command, and our eyes are opened. The sound of your voice brings revival to our souls. Your words are purer than the finest gold. True and righteous one, living Word, light our way. As we listen to your Spirit, may the words of our mouths and the thoughts of our hearts be accepted in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen. Stewardship Moment Lord of grace and forgiveness, you who gave everything and spared nothing to make us your own, we offer back to you what you have so freely given to us. Let all that we say and do, all that we think and plan and consider, be pleasing to you, blessed Creator, Provider, and Savior, in whose name we pray. Amen. Offertory Prayer: Washed in your peace and love, O God, we bring our gifts to you. Bless the gifts and the lives that they represent, that all may be used in your service and to your glory. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. AMEN. Scripture The Ten Commandments 20 Then God spoke all these words: 2 I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 You must have no other gods before[a] me. 4 Do not make an idol for yourself—no form whatsoever—of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. 7 Do not use the LORD your God’s name as if it were of no significance; the LORD won’t forgive anyone who uses his name that way. 8 Remember the Sabbath day and treat it as holy. 9 Six days you may work and do all your tasks, 12 Honor your father and your mother so that your life will be long on the fertile land that the LORD your God is giving you. 13 Do not kill.[a] 14 Do not commit adultery. 15 Do not steal. 16 Do not testify falsely against your neighbor. 17 Do not desire and try to take your neighbor’s house. Do not desire and try to take your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox, donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor. 18 When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the horn, and the mountain smoking, the people shook with fear and stood at a distance. 19 They said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we’ll listen. But don’t let God speak to us, or we’ll die.” 20 Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid, because God has come only to test you and to make sure you are always in awe of God so that you don’t sin.” Sermon Rise with the sun to pray. Pray alone. Pray often. The Great Spirit will listen if you only speak. 2. Be tolerant of those who are lost on their path. Ignorance, conceit, anger, jealousy - and greed stem from a lost soul. Pray that they will find guidance. 3. Search for yourself, by yourself. Do not allow others to make your path for you. It is your road and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you. 4. Treat the guests in your home with much consideration. Serve them the best food, give them the best bed and treat them with respect and honor. 5. Do not take what is not yours whether from a person, a community, the wilderness or from a culture. It was not earned nor given. It is not yours. 6. Respect all things that are placed upon this earth - whether it be people or plant. 7. Honor other people's thoughts, wishes, and words. Never interrupt another or mock or rudely mimic them. Allow each person the right to personal expression. 8. Never speak of others in a bad way. The negative energy that you put out into the universe will multiply when it returns to you. 9. All persons make mistakes. And all mistakes can be forgiven. 10. Bad thoughts cause illness of the mind, body, and spirit. Practice optimism. 11. Nature is not FOR us, it is a PART of us. They are part of your worldly family. 12. Children are the seeds of our future. Plant love in their hearts and water them with wisdom and life's lessons. When they are grown, give them space to grow. 13. Avoid hurting the hearts of others. The poison of your pain will return to you. 14. Be truthful at all times. Honesty is the test of one's will within this universe. 15. Keep yourself balanced. Your Mental self, Spiritual self, Emotional self, and Physical self - all need to be strong, pure and healthy. Work out the body to strengthen the mind. Grow rich in spirit to cure emotional ails. 16. Make conscious decisions as to who you will be and how you will react. Be responsible for your own actions. 17. Respect the privacy and personal space of others. Do not touch the personal property of others - especially sacred and religious objects. This is forbidden. 18. Be true to yourself first. You cannot nurture and help others if you cannot nurture and help yourself first. 19. Respect others religious beliefs. Do not force your belief on others. 20. Share your good fortune with others. These are some of the codes of ethics attributed to the Lakota Native Americans. Whenever I am teaching a class, I usually start out on the first day with having participants develop a classroom code of ethics, rules of understanding for how we will treat one another in class. Most classes come up with things like treat all with a sense of respect, all answers are important, to be positive with all people. The 10 commandments are a code of ethics of how we will treat one another when we are together in community. I know that I have preached a sermon with this congregation on the 10 commandments. That time I focused on each of the individual commandments. But today I don’t want us to think so much about what the commandments are, but why they were given to the community in the first place. We have been following the journey of God’s people as they are wandering in the desert. We hear of their concerns and of God’s response. As they journey they develop their identity. They start to form a solid community. With community, comes rules of understanding of how we treat one another. These particular rules come directly from God- the 10 words. Jesus Christ would have known these commandments – he summarized them down to 2 commandments – Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and soul, and to love the neighbor as you love yourself. The most important commandment – Love God. For God the unforgivable sin of the people was that they did not come to God when they needed something. And when they did come to God, they did not believe that God could do anything about it. Hence the most important commandment in life – Love God enough to have a relationship. The second, there is not anything in the world more important than God. In other words – do not have any idols. Martin Luther says that an idol is anything that occupies your mind and anything that determines your actions in life. I think under that definition, we all have some idols. In modern times we have also gotten away from wanting to be commanded to do anything. We want to rewrite, redefine and even forget about the 10 commandments. A little boy was once asked by his Sunday school teacher if he knew the Ten Commandments. "No ma'am," came the reply, "my dad said that I don't have to know them since they are doing away with them anyway." It is one thing to be ignorant of the Ten Commandments; it quite another to mock them with impunity. Millions dismiss them as mere platitudes fit for nothing more than a dusty old bookshelf. They disdain them because they are "religious." Instead of listening to Thou shalt not, we want to rewrite them into positive affirmations – things that should do. In reality there is no proof that the 10 commandments were intended to be positive affirmations. God always said, if you love me, this is what you won’t do. Even Jesus says that he did not come to take away the law of obedience, but to fulfill it. Setting boundaries around our behavior was God’s way of showing love for the community. They were never intended to be demands of behavior. God never withheld God’s blessings. As a matter of fact, God gave us grace and salvation first. Obeying the commandments was our response to God’s love, not a condition for it. Once, he was being interviewed by Bill Moyers, who looked at the new President of the United States of America and asked, "What is the most significant discovery Jimmy Carter has made?" President Carter flashed his famous smile and said, "This is embarrassing a little bit for me to talk about because it’s personal. But, the most significant discovery that I have made is my relationship with God through Jesus Christ." He was the most powerful man in the free world. Every day he made decisions that affected the destiny of our nation and the world. He was busy as he sought to move our country in a new direction. Yet, he had his priorities straight, because he recognized that his relationship with God was the most significant part of his life. Are you putting God first in your life? It so happened that several people from the church were going to both the uneducated bishop and the therapist for advice and counseling. Some of them felt that they were getting more help from the bishop than they were from the psychiatrist, and they told that to the psychiatrist. He was a little professionally troubled by this, so he went to the bishop and asked him what his secret was. What methods or teachings or counseling or therapy did he use which were so effective in helping people to improve their mental and emotional health? The bishop took the question very seriously and gave a typically blunt answer. “Well,” he said, “I just ask them questions until I figure out which commandment they are breaking, and then I tell them to stop it.” (5) Maybe he’s on to something there. There is no question that you cannot willingly violate any of God’s laws and have a completely satisfying life. The Ten Commandments were given to us by God for our protection. Have we strayed too far as a community away from the Bible for our own good? A couple of years ago, I was asked to serve on a panel to discuss the problems facing teenagers in our society. The panel included a school counselor, a Juvenile Judge, a drug counselor, a couple of other experts on teenage problems, and, I guess, I was the representative of the religious community. There were a variety of people in the audience, including the parents of several teenagers. During the question and answer period, there was one woman who acknowledged that she was at the symposium because her adolescent daughter had become a handful and she could no longer control her. Then, looking at me, she began to blame the church for the problems that her daughter faced and the problems that teenagers were encountering in our society. She stated that the problems of teenagers could be traced directly to the church which was no longer teaching "the basics." She talked about the failure of the church to give proper instruction and moral guidance to the younger generation. Her strongest and most self-evident point was that children were no longer required to memorize the Ten Commandments. Finally, when she had finished listing her complaints, I asked her, "Madam, do you know the Ten Commandments?" "Of course," she responded, somewhat insulted by the question. Looking directly at this woman in the audience, I challenged her by saying, "Name them!" She coughed and sputtered and looked embarrassed. Finally, she was able to name three or four of the commandments and a couple of quotes from Shakespeare before giving up and sitting down. While I can sympathize with that woman and her worry about her daughter, I think it is a mistake to attribute magical qualities to the Ten Commandments. Instead, I think it is more appropriate to look at them as rules for living. . I am probably a part of that sinful generation. I never had to memorize the 10 commandments. It would probably take me a minute to come up with all 10, and I don’t know the order from memory. But I do know that the most important is to put God first in all things. My relationship with God determines my relationship with all other people. And how we treat one another, determines the quality of our community. Who are we as a community? What are the rules that keep us together to do the work of God? Let us pray…… Prayer "Silence is a friend who claims us, cools the heat and slows the pace. God it is who speaks and names us, knows our being, touches base, making space within our thinking, lifting shades to show the sun, raising courage when we’re shrinking, find scope for faith begun." We are afraid of silence. So much of our world is claimed by noise and clamor. But here, in this place, we are called to let go, to let go of the noise, to let go of the anxiety and worry, to let go of our fears. Silence is truly a friend who claims us. Now for just a moment. Be in silence. Let the beating of your heart and the rhythm of your breathing be your focus. Put aside your worries. Focus on God. God of our lives, who offers to us peace in the silence, a moment apart from the demands and struggles of life, relax our spirits today. We have brought to you the names and situations which have claimed our worries and our attention. We come seeking healing for those who suffer, comfort for those who mourn, direction for the lost, and peace for all your people. We have brought our joys and celebrations to you, thanking you for the many ways in which you have touched our lives with your love. Give us peace and strength for our service to this world in your name. AMEN. Song for Reflection One Bread, One Body UMH 620 Communion Today is world communion Sunday. Day when we realize that the body of Christ is united all throughout the world. Community is not just who we are in this room, extends throughout the world – cant see each other but held together through love. I have been part of a lectionary group for about 20 years, participants from all over the world. We have a tradition that every World communion, we put together greetings from churches from all over the world. Some from ……. We are different people, with different ways of worshipping. See same God in different ways. Wilda Gaffney, womanist midrash (page 105), puts the words of the Isrealite journey in her own words. God gives the 10 commandments in person, not through Moses- wanted to make sure everyone saw it - In her words she says, the people of Israel gazed upon God on the mountain. They saw smoke and fire. Within the flames and of the flames some say flames, some say great wings, some saw a mountain, others saw the tree of life, some saw lightening, some saw rainbows, some saw a robe of many colors, some saw stars, all of them saw God. Yet none of their descriptions alone, nor all of them together were sufficient to convey the majesty of the fire of sinai. As we come together in communion today – in the midst of a world crisis, a church crisis, a community crisis – we are all in different places, literally some of us our outside, some are inside, some are at home, some are not. We are in different places politically, we believe different things about who God is, we believe different things about the church. None of us have the final say on who God is and What God is doing. But in this moment we are called to together – to be witnesses to God – to show love to one another, but to be love to the world. In this moment, God has provided for us all. Jesus has given us all of special place in the kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit binds us together. Jesus we ask for your blessings upon the communion elements. We ask for your blessing upon the work of this church. We ask for your blessing upon each of us. Let these blessed elements lead us to a deeper relationship with you and one another. I invite each of you – take the body of Christ, the blood of Christ, and to feel Christ’s salvation in our soul at this moment. Dear Lord we thank you for your body blood, we pray that we truly in this moment be the body of Christ redeemed by your blood. Give us the strength to go forward in the world to transform it and to make disciples of Christ. Amen. Announcements October 18th is Laity Sunday – the theme of the day will be the ministry of all Christians. The work that we all are called to do on behalf of the church Benediction Hear the voice of the Creator, the mighty God, the One who built the vault of heaven, who set the sun on its blazing course through the skies! Hear the words of life, declared not by speech or language or voice but written on the heart! Go forth in the name of the living Word, the One whose words bring forth the fruit of the kingdom in your own lives! Amen. Children’s Sermon Object: Something listing the 10 Commandments Exegetical Aim: To understand that the Ten Commandments are God’s gift to us and guide the way we should live our lives. Lesson: Good morning! Some of you have been in school or preschool for a while now. I have a question. How many rules did your teacher set for your class? (Response. Hopefully this will range quite a bit.) When I was your age, I had a few teachers who had lots of rules. I think my second grade teacher had a separate rule for every occasion. Sometimes it felt like I couldn’t turn around without breaking a rule! But other teachers only had one rule. Can you guess what it was? (Response) That’s right, to treat others like you would want to be treated. We call that the Golden Rule because it is so important. Do you know why we have rules? (Response) That’s right, to tell us how to act. Sometimes we need a guide to help us figure out the best way to act. What if I told you that God gave us 10 rules to help guide us through life? Application: In today’s reading, we learned about 10 big rules. Can anyone tell me what we call these rules? (Response) That's right. These are the 10 Commandments. Moses and his people, the Israelites, were wandering in the desert after escaping from the Egyptians. The 10 Commandments are the rules that God gave to Moses to guide how God’s people should live. I’m going to read the Ten Commandments to you and I want you to listen. This is very important because these are God’s rules to you, too. (Optional: Instead of jumping into reading the list, you might want to ask the kids to list some of the Commandments. Also, you could carefully choose a few Commandments which might be especially meaningful for them to define, i.e. Honor your mother and father. Ask the kids to elaborate on what these Commandments mean. This would be very appropriate for a group including older children.) First, You shall love the Lord with all your heart. (Deuteronomy 6: 5) Second, You shall not worship false idols. That means that you won’t worship anything other than God. Third, you shall not use the Lord’s name in vain. That means you should not curse with the Lord’s name. Fourth, remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Sunday is the Sabbath and we should worship God and rest on Sunday. Fifth, honor your mother and father. This is a biggie for you guys. This means you should respect and love your mom and dad. Sixth, you shall not murder. Seventh, you shall not commit adultery. Eighth, you shall not steal. Ninth, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. This means you should not lie. Tenth, you shall not covet your neighbor. This one means that you should not get jealous over what other people have. If someone has a really great toy, you should not get jealous over the toy. Instead, you should be happy your friend has such a great toy. These are the big rules that God has given us to help guide us through life. If you have any questions, I want you to feel free to ask your parents, grandparents, your Sunday school teacher, the preacher, or even me. We would be happy to answer your questions about these big rules. Let’s Pray: Dear God, thank you for the Ten Commandments. We know that sometimes we need a little guidance and help in living our lives. Thank you for helping us out. Help us to always remember your rules. Amen. ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc., ChristianGlobe Children's Sermons, by Mary O Additional Illustrations God’s Patience Robert Ingersoll, that great agnostic of a day gone by, once said to a contemporary, "I will give God five minutes to strike me dead for the things I have said." After five minutes and nothing had happened, Ingersoll's friend remarked, "Did you think you could exhaust God's patience in just five minutes?" Jerry L. Schmalenberger, When Christians Quarrel, CSS Publishing Co., Inc., hrough these commandments, God was calling his people back then and today - to share a covenant relationship with him. This covenant relationship simply means that we learn to give God a prominent place in our lives. Not long ago, I was reading a book about the presidency of Jimmy Carter. He was the Democratic president of the United States from January 1977 to January 1981. During that time he dealt with many difficult issues. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in his efforts to bring peace between Israel and Egypt. He dealt with an oil embargo crisis and the crisis of the hostages in Iran. But, one thing that Jimmy Carter will be remembered for is the influence of his religion in his life. In, James Mitchener’s novel The Source, he describes an ancient family. The father of the family sacrifices his son to Malek, an ancient God. The mother grieves while the father then goes and visits the temple prostitutes. She is deeply grieved at what her husband is doing in the name of religion. She laments: “With a different god, he would have been a different man.” We are shaped by our god or gods. Martin Luther once wrote: “whatever you confide in, that is your god.’ Whatever we count on to give us meaning and value in life, that is our god. G. K. Chesterton said years ago, "Good art and morality teach us the same lesson--it is wisdom to know where to draw the line." Leland Gregory, in his book Stupid History, tells of a colossal error that once occurred in transmitting the Ten Commandments. In 1631, King Charles I ordered 1,000 Bibles from an English printer named Robert Barker. Printing was not an exact science in those days, and sometimes mistakes were made and usually overlooked but not in this case. Barker inadvertently left out a single word in the Seventh Commandment in Exodus 20:14 the word “not.” Readers were shocked to find out that God had commanded Moses “Thou shalt commit adultery” as opposed to “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” King Charles was not amused by this mistake and ordered all the Bibles destroyed, fined Barker 300 pounds sterling (a lifetime’s wages in those days), and revoked his printing license Barker was out of business. Not all the Bibles were destroyed; there are eleven known to still exist. Because of the infamous mistake, this printing of the official King James Version is referred to as “The Wicked Bible.” (1) I don’t have to tell you that many people would like to rewrite the Ten Commandments. In her autobiography, My Life So Far, actress Jane Fonda reveals some interesting details about dating and marrying media mogul Ted Turner. On one of their first dates he bragged about replacing the Ten Commandments with what he called The Ten Voluntary Initiatives, which included caring for the earth, having no more than two children per family, etc. He assured Fonda that in the modern world people just couldn’t stomach being commanded to do anything. First: The Rule Of Common Sense. Second: The Rule Of Sportsmanship Third: The Rule Of Your Own Best Self. Fourth: The Rule Of Publicity. Fifth: The Rule Of The Most Admired Person You Know. Sixth: The Rule Of Foresight