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